PENNSYLVANIA, USA — We have a meteor shower coming up later this week, and it's not one we typically talk about because it's usually not all that spectacular.
The big meteor shower of the summer is the Perseid meteor shower. That's coming up in August.
Right now, it's July. This meteor shower is the Delta Aquariids.
It's caused by the comet asteroid complex 96P/Machholz cluster. It causes these meteor showers to cause about 10 to 20 meteors per hour at their peak.
We don't typically find that many because we usually find ourselves in a bright moon phase, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, or even a full moon.
This time around, on July 29, we'll have a new moon.
So the sky will be at optimal darkness. You can anticipate seeing as many as 10-20 meteors per hour. Like with all meteor showers, you want to get a nice dark place.
You want to look to the Southern Sky because this meteor shower appears to emanate just below the Great Square of Pegasus in the Southern Sky.
You can look anywhere from West to East or even South. Get away from light pollution. You'll have to look between 1-4 in the morning for optimal results.
Go out, check it out, and as always, we're hoping for clear skies.
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