The Piscis Austrinids, Southern Delta Aquariids, and Alpha Capricornids, three meteor showers that will peak at the end of the week, are expected to light up the night sky across Australia.
On July 29, a new moon and the meteor showers align to create the best viewing circumstances.
TOPSHOT - The milky way and meteors of the April Lyrids annual meteor shower are seen in the night sky over Burg auf Fehmarn on the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn, northern Germany, on April 20, 2018.
Triple Meteor Showers in Australia: Southern Delta Aquariids, Piscis Austrinids, Alpha Capricornids
According to Australian Photography, the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids meteor showers will peak on July 30. Still, the Piscis Austrinids meteor shower will peak first, beginning on July 28. The busiest time lasts for almost 48 hours.
The Piscis Austrinids and the Alpha Capricornids will have a very moderate shower rate, with five and four meteors an hour, respectively. In contrast, the Southern Delta Aquariids will have the most meteors, up to 20 an hour at their peak.
How to See Trio of Showers in Australia
According to Kon Stoitsis of The Astronomical Society of Victoria, it is ideal to see meteor showers outside of cities because they are more difficult to spot amid city lights. All you have to do is gaze to the east to discover them.
"They're all roughly in the same part of the sky ... and they are all visible after 11:00 pm (local time), then they are probably visible to 3:30 am (local time)," Stoitsis told The Guardian.
The clearest skies throughout the weekend will determine the optimum viewing nights.
Stargazers should direct their gaze east or northeast in the early evening. Look to the north about midnight, then west or northwest as daylight draws near.
What Australian Stargazers Should Expect
Associate Professor Nicholas Jones of the University of Wollongong told The Examiner that meteors resemble light streaks. The terms "shooting star" and these celestial bodies are synonymous.
He added that there may be some confusion since the three showers are relatively near to one another and will appear to emanate from the same region of the sky.
The Alpha Capricornids will provide the brightest meteors, while the Southern Delta Aquariids will produce more meteoroids each hour.
Jones stated that the Delta Aquariids would be responsible for the majority of the meteors that Australians will observe.
However, he noted that the Alpha Capricornids occasionally produce fireballs, which are incredibly brilliant meteors.
Jones added that the fireball could be as brilliant as Venus and anywhere between a walnut and a cricket ball. Still, a bright meteorite may only be the size of a rice grain.
Meteor Shower Explained
According to NASA (via 7News.au), a meteor is a space rock that hits Earth's atmosphere and becomes very hot due to the drag (or resistance) it encounters as it falls, which results in a light streak.
A meteor shower is a mass entry of space objects into Earth's atmosphere.
The rocks are often quite tiny, sometimes burning up in the atmosphere before they reach the surface of the Earth.
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