Astronomers enjoyed the Eta Aquarids and Tau Herculid meteor showers last month. But later this month, the Delta Aquariids meteor shower will still reach its apogee in the night sky.

According to the American Meteor Society, the peak of the Southern Delta Aquarids will occur later this month.

(Photo : Pexels/Raman Deep)
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Meteor Shower Defined

Telegraph explained that a meteor shower happens when many meteors shoot across the sky from nearly the same place when Earth passes through the debris stream surrounding a comet.

Although they technically have nothing to do with stars, meteors are occasionally called shooting stars.

Meteor showers appear to originate from a single spot in the sky known as the shower radiant due to perspective. A particle the size of a sand grain that hits Earth's atmosphere at 134,000 mph turns into a meteor when it vaporizes there.

A fireball will be produced by anything bigger than a grape, which will frequently be followed by a meteor train, a continuous afterglow. It is a column of ionized gas progressively losing energy and disappearing from vision.

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History of Delta Aquariid

A meteor shower happens when the Earth travels through a comet's debris trail. Rock and dust fragments in the debris stream burn up as they come into contact with the atmosphere of the Earth, leaving blazing streaks in the sky.

Royal Museum Greenwich mentioned there is still considerable debate regarding the parent comet that gave rise to the Delta Aquariid meteor shower. The Marsden and Kracht sungrazing comets, which at their closest approach come within around 850,000 miles (1 400 000 kilometers) of the Sun, were assumed to be the source of the meteor shower.

However, Comet 96P/Machholz, a different sungrazing comet, has just been recognized as the most likely cause of the meteor shower. The comet, found in 1986 by Donald Machholz, has an estimated diameter of 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) and travels around the Sun in under five years. The comet's ice vaporizes when the Sun heats it, loosening tiny pieces of rock and dust, and this stream of debris creates the Delta Aquariid meteor shower.

How to Watch Southern Delta Aquariids

BBC's Sky at Night Magazine reiterates that Southern Delta Aquariids (SDA) shower is active between July 12 and August 23, reaching its peak from July 28 to 30.

Peak rates generally exceed 16 zenithal hourly meteors per hour (ZHR). However, as we frequently point out, ZHRs can be deceiving.

The number of meteors anticipated to be seen each hour at the zenithal hourly rate is determined by ideal viewing circumstances when the radiant meteor shower is directly overhead.

Such parameters are seldom satisfied, as is the case with the SDA, whose radiant is located close to Skat (Delta () Aquarii) and receives relatively little energy from the UK.

Find a dark area, sit or lie down, and stare up into the sky to view the Southern Delta Aquariid shower; an altitude of 60 (two-thirds up from the horizon) is optimal in any direction.

An all-night vigil nevertheless enables you to sleep following the session because July evenings are brief.