Peak shooting star season has arrived with six meteor showers expected to pepper Earth in the coming weeks as the planet hurtles through fields of cometary debris.
The image above captures a meteor lighting up the night sky over Sydney, Australia on the night of July 28. With a view of the southern sky, Australians will be able to enjoy the Pisces Austrinids, the Southern Delta meteor shower and the Alpha Capricornids meteor showers at the first. week of August, in addition to the famous Perseids, which will arrive in the middle of the month.
This year’s Perseidshowever, it will be damaged as the top will match the full moonmeaning that only the brightest meteors will be visible in the clearer-than-usual sky.
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According to Space.com columnist Joe Rao, the five other shooting stars in August will enjoy a much darker sky, taking place closer to the new moon.
The Alpha Capricornids, which peaked earlier this week, are a fairly diffuse shower, with only a few meteors hitting Earth’s atmosphere every hour. The display is named after the Capricorn constellation, from which it appears to emanate.
The Piscean austrinids, visible mostly from the southern hemisphere, have their origin in the constellation of Pisces. This shower is also relatively sparse, with about eight meteors per hour.
The Delta Aquaridswhich appear to come from the constellation Aquarius, are a slightly denser meteor shower with a few dozen shooting stars expected during peak nights around July 30.
The Iota Aquariids shower arrives just before the Perseids and peaks around August 6, just before the waxing moon begins to spoil observations. The shower is quite thin, with fewer than ten meteors expected each hour.
The famous Perseids usually deliver more than 60 meteors per hour. How many will be visible this year remains a question, as the peak of the shower (August 11-13) coincides with the August full moon.
The last shower of the summer will be the Kappa Cygnids, peaking on August 17th, which although very rare, sometimes provides exceptionally spectacular fireballs.
For tips on photographing meteor showers, check out our guide to photographing meteors and meteor showers, and if you need some footage, consider our best astrophotography cameras and best astrophotography lenses.
And if you capture a particularly spectacular shooting star, send us your image at spacephotos@space.com.
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