When it comes to meteor showers, the showy Perseids tend to grab the spotlight. That shower’s peak display is headed our way in a couple of weeks, but Monday night there’s a preview of coming attractions.
Two meteor showers visible from the Northern Hemisphere will peak between Monday and Wednesday, according to the American Meteor Society.
The Southern Delta Aquariids will peak either Monday night or early Tuesday morning. This shower produces brighter shooting stars the farther south you are. Typically, these meteors are faint and lack trains — a streak that may follow a large, bright meteor trail — or fireballs.
If the moon is above the horizon, according to the American Meteor Society, look toward the southwestern sky.
It’s easiest to see these meteors while lying on your back and looking 45 degrees from the constellation Aquarius, according to NASA. You should let your eyes adjust to the darkness for about 30 minutes in an area without city or street lights, NASA advises.
“Be patient — the show will last until dawn,” the agency says, “so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.”
Meteors are bits of broken asteroids and comet dust that collide with Earth’s atmosphere as it travels around the sun, NASA says. The meteors burn up as they fall toward Earth, creating the “shooting star” phenomenon.
The Alpha Capricornids meteor shower, which will peak on Wednesday, is a weaker shower forecast to produce fewer than five meteors per hour — but it’s more likely to result in bright fireballs and won’t require that you gaze in any specific direction like the Aquariids — according to the American Meteor Society.
After the Perseids peak in August, the next opportunity to see meteors, in mid-October, will be hampered by a mostly full moon.