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A lesser-known meteor shower will peak over Michigan skies this week. Although meteors are not numerous, they are known to be showy.
Alpha Capricornids are a meteor shower that occurs every year in July or early August. This is not a well-known meteor shower for most of us, as the number of meteors is not enough to justify many people staying up late to see it.
Alpha Capricornids typically only show five to 10 meteors per hour, according to Delta College Planetarium astronomer Mike Murray. Murray says the expected amount of meteors is not much more than what we would see on an average night. In comparison, the Perseids can show 50 to 100 meteors per hour.
“The distinct parts of the Alpha Capricornids are the relatively slow motion of meteors and their propensity for fireballs,” Murray said.
Fireballs are defined as meteors brighter than Venus. Seeing a large fireball can be a lifelong memory. They can almost look like a burning plane just above the horizon.
Alpha Capricornids are expected to peak on Wednesday evening July 28 or Thursday evening July 29. By midnight Wednesday night, skies should be clear for at least southern Lower Michigan. Thursday night could have clear skies for all of Michigan.
Another interesting feature of Alpha Capricornids is the slower movement of meteors. It may not sound slow, but Murray states that Alpha Capricornids meteors can travel as slowly as 54,000 miles per hour. The Perseid meteors are spinning at 129,000 miles an hour. In the real world, this means that an Alpha Capricornid meteor travels at half the speed of a Perseid meteor. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to watch the Alpha Capricornids meteor, but it does give you a few extra seconds to watch each meteor.
A tip from Murray on how best to see them: “Before midnight the radiant point (where they emanate) will come from the southeast, radiating more from the south after midnight. Rather, the shower peak is a plateau that spans multiple nights, centered on July 28-29 of this year. Unfortunately, the bright waning gibbous moon (about 74% full) will wash away weaker meteors, but fireballs will still shine through!
So if you see a slowly moving fireball on the horizon, you know what you just witnessed.
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