Anyone looking up at the summer night sky, even for a short period of time, is likely to notice a few “shooting stars” streaking across the sky.
The best meteor viewing of the summer comes during the second week of August during the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on the nights of August 11 and 12 and is capable of producing 50 to 100 fast, bright meteors per hour for a single observer. Many of the bright meteors and their trains can be seen under good skies. 2024 will be a particularly good year for Perseid meteor viewing, as the bright moonlight will not interfere.
The first Perseids begin to appear around July 25. You will only see a few per hour at best, but the numbers will start to rise during the second week of August. The last remaining Perseids may remain visible until August 18.
In general, Earth experiences richer meteor activity during the second half of the year. You are likely to see twice as many meteors per hour in the pre-dawn hours as in the evening hours. This is due to the fact that during the pre-midnight hours we are on the “late” side of the Earth, due to our orbital motion through space.
So any meteoroid would have to have an orbital velocity greater than Earth’s to be able to “catch” us. But after midnight, when we turn to the “leading” side of Earth, any object that falls along the planet’s orbital path will enter Earth’s atmosphere as a meteoroid. When such objects hit our atmosphere at speeds of between 7 and 45 miles (11 and 72 kilometers) per second, their kinetic energy is rapidly dissipated in the form of heat, light, and ionization, creating short-lived streaks of light popularly referred to as “shooting stars.”
If you want more tips on how to photograph summer meteor showers, check out our guide on how to photograph meteors and meteor showers, and if you need photography equipment, consider the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.
Extra meteorites
But besides the Perseids, there are many other smaller meteors that are active at different times during July and August. Although the hourly rates of these other meteors are only a fraction of the numbers produced by the Perseids combined, they provide a variety of meteors with different colors, speeds and paths. The Summer Meteors, which occasionally pass right in front of you, are especially noticeable between late July and the third week of August.
Between July 26 and August 21, there are at least six different secondary signs active. These include Capricornus, Aquarius the Aquarius, Pisces the Australis, Alpha Capricornus, Utah the Aquarius, and Kappa the Sign.
The radiant points of five of these meteors peak about halfway across the southern sky between 1 and 3:30 a.m. local daylight time. The radiant point is the spot in the sky where the paths of the shower members intersect, if they extend backward, near the star or constellation for which the shower is named. Many people are misled into thinking that this is the best place to look for these meteors, but in fact the greatest number of them will be seen in the upper sky and toward the south.
In addition to the meteor showers, there are always scattered showers, apparently unrelated to each other, occurring at an average rate of about seven showers per hour. The duration of the shower varies somewhat by day, with the beginning and end being gradual and indefinite.
The only equipment you’ll need is your eyes and a modest amount of patience.
As one long-time meteorite enthusiast noted: “Meteorite watching is relaxing, fun, and maybe even very exciting and enjoyable!”
Small shower list
Our first meteor shower is the Capricornus meteor shower, which peaks on July 26, although it runs from July 10 to August 15. The radiant reaches its highest point in the south at about 1:45 a.m. At most, only a few bright Capricornus meteors will be visible per hour, but this year they will be hampered by the bright gibbous Moon shining brightly in the east-southeast sky.
It’s only two days until the Piscis Australids shower peaks on July 28 (July 15-August 30). The radiant crosses the meridian at 3:30 a.m. This is a smaller stream; observers will only see about eight members per hour, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, where the radiant is higher in the sky. But light from the nearby last-quarter Moon will obscure the view.
The Delta Aquarid meteor shower will also peak on July 28 (July 12-August 23). This shower has two radiants, indicating that we are seeing two distinct streams of celestial debris that produce dim, medium-speed meteors that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. The shower produces up to twenty or thirty meteors per hour, with the radiant peaking in the south at around 3 a.m. But the same last quarter moon that will overlap with the Pisces Australian meteors will also likely reduce the number of Delta Aquarid meteors that can be seen.
Another weak shower is the Alpha Capricornid meteor shower, which begins around July 3, peaks on July 31, and ends on August 15. The radiant is highest in the south around 1 a.m. Although few in number, the Alpha Capricornid meteors often produce slow, bright yellow meteors—sometimes fireballs—that have long trails and can be quite spectacular. The good news: The Moon has now shrunk to a thin crescent and will provide few, if any, clues in the search for these meteors.
The last small shower before the Perseids is the Aquariids, another two-ray shower that can be seen from July 15 to August 25. Activity peaks on August 6 when only about six showers per hour can be seen under good conditions; the shower reaches its southernmost point at 2:45 a.m.
After the Perseids, the last summer meteor shower is the Kappa Cygnid. This shower occurs from August 3 to 28, peaking on August 17. Although the maximum is only three showers per hour, this shower is classified as “slow-moving, sometimes bright, with bright fireballs,” and careful observers may be rewarded for their time spent observing it. The hours before midnight are the best times to watch this shower. The radiant shower is located just north of the star Kappa Cygni and will pass overhead at about 10:30 p.m. Unfortunately, the nearly full Moon will light up the sky for most of the night.
A month of summer meteors
Here are the radiation charts prepared by Yoshihiko Shigeno of the Japan Meteor Society, which were drawn to facilitate understanding of the distribution of visible meteor radiations. Each map is divided into ten-day time periods – late July, early August, and mid-August – and each meteor radiation location detected is marked with a small “x”.
Note that in late July, the most active areas are in Capricorn, Aquarius, and Perseus. By mid-August, the meteor rays are widely scattered throughout Aquarius, while the Perseid rays are the most prominent.
SPACE.com will publish a comprehensive viewer guide to the upcoming Perseid meteor shower in the night sky on August 9. Stay tuned for more!
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