Look To The Skies As Meteor Activity Begins In July

WILL COUNTY, IL — July is a good month to look to the skies as meteor shower activities will heat up after a few months of quiet, the Forest Preserve District of Will County shared.

Meteor activity will get started mid-month, when the alpha Capricornids get underway on July 12, the preserve said. Less than a week later, two additional meteor showers will begin: the much-anticipated Perseids on July 17 and the southern delta Aquariids on July 18.

The Preserve will hold its own event to enjoy the Perseids on Aug. 11. Perseids in the Preservesprograms will be held from 8 to 11 p.m. at Forked Creek Preserve — Butcher Lane Access and Whalon Lake. After the Perseids ends on Aug. 23, there will be several weeks of relative inactivity in the skies above, with the next meteor shower not beginning until early October, the preserve said.

All meteor showers have a period of peak activity, and both the alpha Capricornids and southern delta Aquariids will peak on the same night, from July 29 to 30. Neither is a particularly strong meteor shower, but with both peaking the night of July 29 to 30 and overlapping with the Perseids until they end on Aug. 12, the period of late July and early August can be a good time for wishing upon a shooting star, according to the preserve.

The southern delta Aquariids are usually best viewed from the southern hemisphere, but viewing opportunities in the northern hemisphere will get a boost this year because the crescent moon will have already set before dark, creating a dark night sky, the American Meteor Society reports.

Viewing conditions for the alpha Capricornids are the same in both the northern and southern hemisphere. It does not typically produce more than five meteors per hour, but as with the delta Aquariids, viewing conditions will be good this year, according to the preserve.

The Perseids is the most attention-getting meteor shower of the year, and you can start to see the stars — or meteors, really — flying from the shower in July as well, the preserve said. It is a long meteor shower, lasting from July 17 to Aug. 23, the meteor society reports. Peak activity will be centered on the night of Aug. 12 to 13. While this is the prime time to see the Perseids, this year's viewing will be hampered by a moon that is 84 percent full.

The Old Farmer's Almanac reports that July's full moon will be the "buck moon." The full moon will rise on July 10, reaching peak illumination at 3:37 p.m., according to the Almanac.

The buck moon is named as such because the antlers of male deer are in full-growth mode at this time, the Old Farmer's Almanac said.