Delta Aquarid, Perseid Meteor Showers: Peak Dates, How to Watch

For many of us, the cosmic shows of the summer meteor showers – the Delta Aquarids begin this week and the glorious Perseids begin soon after – are as anticipated as some of the big holidays. For us there is nothing like sitting outside on a hot summer night and watching fireballs streak across the sky.

Think of the Delta Aquarids, which take place from July 12th to August 30th. 23 and culminate July 27-28, the dress rehearsal for the more reliable Perseids. This typically prolific meteor shower runs from July 17 to August 1. 24, culminating during the night of August 12th to 13th.

What does it mean – goody! goody! – is that you can see meteors every time you look in the night sky at any time during the next six weeks.

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The Delta Aquarid meteor shower, produced by the debris left by Marsden and Kracht comets, is an average show, producing about 20 meteors per hour at its peak . There's a bit of bad news – a full moon at the top will erase the weakest of the shooting stars – but there's also good news: Slow shower meteors will still fly when the Perseid meteor shower starts, The Perseids , which are typically rich in fireballs that create long spectacular trails in the sky, promise to be worthy of waiting this year. At the top of the shower, a thin ribbon will be all that is visible from a crescent moon and the meteors should fly at a rate of 60 to 100 hours.

In the years of "overflow", like 2016, the intensity can reach 200 meteors per hour.
Bill Cooke, NASA's meteorologist, does not expect an explosion this year, but said the Perseids will still be the best meteor shower in 2018.

"This year the moon will be near the new moon, it will be a crescent, which means it will happen before Perseide's show starts after midnight, "Cooke told Space.com." The moon is very supportive of the Perseids this year, and this will probably make the Perseids the best rain of 2018 for people who want to go out and see it. "

The historically brilliant Perseids are produced by the comet Swift -Tuttle, discovered in 1862. Meteors fall between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia, but just raise your head and be able to see them anywhere in the sky.

With both meteor showers, the best listening times are after midnight. 39; before dawn, but you might be able to see some of them as soon as it gets dark. The dark sky away from light pollution offers the best viewing conditions, but there are also good places to observe meteors in big cities.

Here are other tips for observing NASA's meteors:

• Lie on, like a reclining chair or yoga mat so you can see most of the sky.
• Be patient. In ideal conditions, you should be able to see a meteor in half an hour or more.
• Leave binoculars and telescopes at home. They will steal the best views. Meteors are beautiful without them, and the use of binoculars or telescopes will limit the amount of sky you can see and increase the chances of seeing only dark skies.
• Avoid looking at your mobile phone or anything that produces light. If you need to see something, use a red light. Some flashlights have interchangeable filters; If this is not the case, you can still paint the transparent filter with red nail polish.

Photo: NASA / Bill Ingalls

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