Shooting Star Season Sizzles This Week With the Perseids and 2 Other Meteor Showers
This last week of July marks the beginning of the most active and exciting period of the year for meteor fans.
The most photogenic meteor shower on the calendar is now active, along with the respected Southern Delta Aquariids and the lesser-known Alpha Capricornids. The Perseids are popular in the Northern Hemisphere, where favorable summer weather makes for ideal viewing. This meteor shower peaks in early August.
The Southern Delta Aquariids are another strong shower, but are best seen from south of the equator. This year, spying a shooting star when the shower peaks on July 29-30 will be assisted by a moon that will be almost completely invisible that evening. Add the moderately strong Alpha Capricornids, peaking the night of July 30 into the early morning hours of the 31st, and you get a few weeks of promising opportunities to see tiny bits of cosmic debris burn up into nothing as they collide with our upper atmosphere.
All three showers are already active now, which means that patient and lucky sky gazers might be able to catch a meteor or two per hour any night over the next few weeks. As the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids peak in the final few days of July, that hourly rate could rise to nearly two dozen under ideal conditions.
Stellar 2021 Perseid meteor shower shines in shots from around the world
But the main event, as with most years, will be the peak of the Perseids, coming this year on the night of Aug.
11 and morning of Aug.
12. The American Meteor Society predicts up to a hundred meteors per hour could be visible from a dark sky with minimal light pollution.
Unfortunately, the moon will be at its full phase, providing a significant amount of light pollution much of the night during the Perseids peak. Even still, this shower remains worth venturing outside to check out on the peak night if you can get yourself to a viewing location with clear skies and no city lights. There are some tricks you can employ to shut out the meddling moon on the Perseids’ peak night.
You can turn your back to the rising moon and even place a physical screen such as a wall or tall tree between you and the moon to reduce its impact on your view of the broader sky. Regardless of when and where you try to see some shooting stars over the next few weeks, plan ahead and make sure to set aside at least an hour or two for the experience. You’ll need at least 15 minutes for your eyes to adjust.
Dedicating an hour to observation will make sure you aren’t discouraged by the inevitable lulls in meteor activity, which can often be punctuated by sudden bursts of multiple meteors sizzling across the sky just seconds apart.
Don’t forget to bring blankets or comfy chairs, and snacks to round out the experience.
If any of you astro-photographers out there grab great pics, please share them with me on Twitter @EricCMack.
