by In the early morning hours on Wednesday, two meteor showers are also reached their climax, a relatively unusual astronomical event caused by two comets.
The Southern Delta Aquariid and the Alpha Capricornid showers have been active since July 18 and July 12, but will reach their climax on Tuesday evening at midnight and will continue until the early morning hours of Wednesday morning.
These two showers, which together produce up to 20 to 30 meters per hour, estimated Nick Moscovitz, a planetary astronomer with the Lowell Observatory, according to NPR.
Here you will find how you can prepare for the double meteor shower of this summer.
What is a meteor shower?
According to NASA, meteorites are ruins from comets, asteroids or meteoroids that end up on earth every day. When the material begins to evaporate in the earth’s atmosphere, its trace can be visible to people on earth. This is what we call “shooting stars”.
A meteor shower is what happens when a higher number of meteors fall in a short time.
What you should know about the Southern Delta Aquariid Meteor shower
The Southern Delta Aquariid shower has been active since July 18, but its highlight will be late on July 29th until the early hours of the morning on July 30th, NASA reported. It remains active until August 12th and can best be seen in the southern hemisphere.
The picture shows the COMET 96P Machholz, which circles the sun every six years and causes the southern Delta meteor shower showers. (NASA/AP)
The meteor shoes have its name from the star water waterman, in which the shower is created, and the third -light star in this constellation, which is Delta Aquarii, reports Space.com.
What you should know about the Alpha -Capricornid meteor showers
According to the American Meteor Society, the Alpha -Capricornid shower is “not very strong” and rarely shows more than five meteors per hour. It has been active since July 12 and will remain active until August 12th.
What is remarkable about the Alpha-Capricornid shower is that it creates bright, slowly moving fire balls during its activity, which will be visible during its highlight on July 29 and 30.
How to see the meteor showers
No special equipment is required to observe the meteor showers, but NASA recommends that the audience get away as far as possible from the city’s lights and to put their phones away.
“In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will start seeing meteors,” says NASA. “Be patient – the show takes until dawn, so you have enough time to take a look at it.”
The best time to try to see the showers will be on July 30th after midnight in the early hours of the morning, Astronomer Moscow told NPR. Stargazer in North America should try to find the best view of the southern part of the sky, especially for the southern Delta Aquariid shower, added Moscovitz.
The moon is another light source, which sometimes makes it difficult to see meteor showers from the earth, especially when it is fully visible. Fortunately for Stargazers, the moon will be in a growing crescent phase this week until Thursday evening, which means that according to Astronomy Magazine, it will be about 25% full, so that this should not affect the visibility of the showers.
