Three meteor showers will be visible from Australia over the next three days.
Brought to our attention by The Guardian, the Pisces Austrinids, Aquariids of the Southern Delta and Alpha Capricornids will be visible at times over the next three days.
The Pisces Austrinids are expected to have about five meteors visible per hour during the shower and the Alpha Capricornids are expected to have four meteors visible per hour, while the Aquariids in the Southern Delta are expected to have a whopping 20 meteors visible per hour at its peak.
Meteorites are made up of cosmic rocks, often from comets, which are much larger cosmic rocks. Comets orbit the sun and occasionally pieces fly in the direction of Earth. It’s a pretty cool natural phenomenon.
Previously, some meteor showers had produced between 50 and 100 meteors per hour at their peaks, but this is not the case for all.
Returning to the meteor showers visible over the next two days in particular, the South Delta Aquariids come from Comet 96P/Macholz. The Alpha Capricornids come from comet 169P/NEAT. The origin of the Piscis Austrinids comet, interestingly, has not been identified.
Where and when can I see these next meteor showers?
According to The Guardian, the first to be visible will be Piscis Austrinidis, best visible on July 28 (tonight) between 8pm and 11pm. You will see it in the southeast. Look 45 degrees up.
The second, the South Delta Aquariids (the big one) will be best visible on July 30 around 11 p.m., in the east-northeast. Look 45 degrees up.
Finally, the Alpha Capricornus meteor shower should be bright and have some fireballs, and will be best visible from about 11pm on July 30, visible in the north-northeast. Yes, the same date and time as the South Delta Aquariids, but in a slightly different direction. Look 65 degrees up.
Also, the Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak on August 13 around 5am, with about 100 meteors visible per hour.
The “peak period” for these meteor showers lasts about 48 hours, so while you may be able to spot them at other times, the earlier times are considered the best.
We love space rocks.