| Delta Aquariids Meteor Shower July 28, 2024 ⬅︎ |
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The Forerunner
The Delta Aquariid meteor shower, also known as the Southern Delta Aquariids, is active from July 12 through August 23 with a steady peak that lasts about a week. Look below for the date of the peak’s mid-point for this year.
At its peak, this shower produces 20 meteors per hour. These are typically dim and without trains or fireballs. If the Moon is present, it may be difficult to spot the meteors.
One interesting feature of this shower is that it overlaps with the Perseids meteor shower (July 17 - August 24) allowing you to view meteors from two parts of the sky at the same time. The Delta Aquariids' peak comes first and acts as a forerunner to the much grander Perseids.
The shower takes its name from Delta Aquarii, a 3rd-magnitude star in the constellation Aquarius that is close to the radiant. The star is also known as Skat (see above). Because the radiant is below the celestial equator, this shower is best viewed from the southern hemisphere.
The source of the material of this shower is not known with certainty but it is suspected to be Comet 96P/Machholz which returns to the inner solar system every 5.3 years
| Dates |
Rate |
Speed |
Radiant |
Parent |
2024 Peak |
| Jul 12 - Aug 23 |
20 |
25 mi/s |
Aquarius |
Comet 96P/Machholz |
Jul 28/29 |
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| Viewing Delta Aquariids Meteor Shower | | Level | Easy | Rating |  | Best Viewing | Night of Jul 28/29 | | Find | To find the radiant, look East to find the four bright star that form the Great Square of Pegasus. Find Alpheratz. Hop from it to Markab and hop again to Skat in Aquarius. The radiant is nearby (see above). In the Starry Hill region, the radiant rises in the southeastern sky about 11 PM and rises throughout the night.
|  | In general with meteor showers, the best viewing begins after midnight and improves each hour until just before dawn.
|  | For 2024, some good news is that the Moon will be setting at about 3 PM and won't be interfering with the first part of the shower. However, a fairly bright Waning Crescent Moon will be rising at about 12:15 AM which will make it difficult to view any but the brightest of meteors after that.
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| More info: All about Shooting Stars, Meteors and Meteor Showers
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