While we might be tempted to curl up and stay inside on Thursday night, Aussies are being encouraged to get out in their backyard to catch a rare trio of meteor showers.
Three celestial events, the Southern Delta Aquariids, the Alpha Capricornids and the Pisces Austrinids, will light up Australian skies over the next few nights, coinciding with the dark night sky of a new moon, which is expected to provide conditions ideal viewing.
Macquarie University Professor Orsola De Marco says meteor showers are among the funnest events for amateur astronomers because of their reliability; providing bright and beautiful displays even when conditions are not favorable.
Professor De Marco said the phenomenon was created when Earth crossed the orbit of a comet and encountered fallen debris.
“Like my cat, comets shed bits,” Professor De Marco told The Guardian Australia.
“It’s like when you drive your car through a cloud of bugs: you have them all on your windshield.”
The process, which is called radiant, involves fragments of extremely hot meteors falling through space before burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
At their peaks, which last about 48 hours, showers can produce about 35 meteors per hour.
Although meteor showers are visible from everywhere on Earth, Australia is expected to be one of the best viewing locations.
So when and where is the best time to look?
The Pisces Austrinid meteor shower is expected to peak, beginning on Thursday, July 28, with the South Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids following closely on Saturday, July 30.
The most impressive light show will come on Saturday when the southern delta aquarids grace our skies, with up to 20 meteors an hour at their peak, according to Professor De Marco.
Austrinid fishes:
Named after the constellation Pisces Austrinus, otherwise known as “The Fish of the South”, this meteor shower will rise around 8pm on the East Coast, traveling southeast through the night .
“Look east, about 45 degrees up, halfway between the horizon and above your head,” Professor De Marco said.
Aquariids of the South Delta:
From 11pm on Saturday, the South Delta Aquariids, this week’s fastest shower, will be visible to the east-northeast and 45 degrees up from the horizon.
Alpha Capricornids:
This shower can produce very bright “fireball” meteors that appear to fall slowly across the sky.
Professor De Marco said the Alpha Capricornids shower would be visible in the north-northeast, about 65 degrees from the horizon, around 11pm on Saturday.
But these events won’t be the last we’ll see, with more celestial events just a few weeks away.
Peak rainy season for Sydney residents will occur around 3am on August 13.
The meteor shower, known as the Perseid shower, will produce up to a hundred visible shooting stars in an hour.
However, because the Perseid shower will coincide with the full moon in 2022, the display will be less visible.
Originally posted as How and where to see meteor showers in Australia