Comet 96P/Machholz photographed by the STEREO-A spacecraft. It’s the possible parent comet of the annual Delta Aquariid meteor shower Photo: NASA
If you get up in the early hours before dawn and go outside away from the glare of city lights, you will be able to see the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower. The show is on now from 18 July to 21 August and you should be able to see up to 20 meteors per hour. The radiant will be above the southern horizon with meteors fanning out to the east, north and west. In August the show will be enhanced as the Acquariid meteors mix with the Perseid ones.
Delta Aquariids get their name because their radiant appears to lie in the constellation Aquarius, near one of the constellation’s brightest stars, Delta Aquarii. The meteors are believed to come from the comet 96P/Machholz Complex, which orbits the sun every 5.3 years and gets eight times closer to the sun than we do, well inside the orbit of Mercury. A recent study suggests that material causing the Delta Aquariid meteors left the comet’s nucleus abut 20,000 years ago.
You will see best if the night sky is relatively moon-free. This happens in late July when the first quarter moon falls.
The greatest meteor shower in recorded history occurred in November 1833 when the Leonid storm sent 2300 meteors per minute across the sky as viewed from Arizona.
Coming to the night sky for your viewing pleasure
- From 19 November to 24 December the Geminids meteor shower should turn on up to 120 meteors per hour, according to space.com.
- From 17 July to 29 August, the aforementioned Perseids will produce bright meteors and fire balls.
“When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars”
From the song Age of Aquarius by the Fifth Dimension
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