2 Meteor Showers About To Peak Over PA Skies: When To Look Up

PENNSYLVANIA — If you’ve been longing since spring for meteor showers, you’re in for a treat over the next few weeks. Two meteor showers are now underway and will peak soon over Pennsylvania skies.

The Delta Aquariid meteor shower is underway, with the peak expected later this week. The Delta Aquariids, which produce between 10 and 20 meteors an hour at the July 29 peak, is a dress rehearsal for summer’s main shooting star event, the prolific Perseid meteor shower.

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The Delta Aquariids reliably produce meteors for a couple of days on either side of the peak date and will continue to fire through about Aug. 23, intersecting with the Perseids, often regarded as the best meteor shower of the year.

The 2021 Delta Aquariids could be a disappointment, though. Harsh light from a waning gibbous moon will likely wash out a good number of the meteors, which are faint to begin with because the shower favors the Southern Hemisphere, according to Earthsky.org.

To see the Delta Aquariids, it’s best to head outside between midnight and dawn.

That bright moon will wane in the first week of August. The Perseid meteor shower, which runs through Aug. 24, will be well underway by that point. Viewing conditions should be ideal for the Aug. 11-12 peak.

So, is the shooting star a Delta Aquariid or a Perseid?

The alternate answer is that either way, a falling star is a beautiful thing to behold, but if you really want to distinguish a Delta Aquariid from a Perseid meteor, the short answer is that the former appear to fly from the south and the Perseids from the north-northeast.

NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com that 2021 should be a stellar year for the Perseids, which are known for bright, persistent trains. If skies are clear, skywatchers will be able to see about 100 shooting stars an hour, Cooke said, though he explained that in more typical conditions, people should be able to see one meteor every minute.

“The Perseids are rich in fireballs, so they’ll be bright,” Cooke said.

Cooke, who leads the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said meteor shower watching requires an investment in time and preparation. Some tips:

• Get as far away from city lights as possible.
• Give your eyes about 30-45 minutes to adapt to the darkness.
• Take in as much of the sky as possible; take along a reclining lawn chair or a blanket and lie flat on your back.
• It can be helpful to find the radiant point (for the Perseids, that’s the prominent constellation of Perseus; for the Delta Aquariids, it’s the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer). But avoid staring directly at it. The longer streaks are visible farther away from the radiant point.

Also, Cooke told Space.com, ditch the cell phone.

“The bright screen can throw a wrench in your efforts to adjust your night vision,” he said. “My suggestion to my friends who want to observe meteors is, leave your phone inside.”