Aquariids 2019 – Photo: abc7.com
Behold the Delta Aquariids!
I love learning about stuff. And until yesterday or the day before, I don’t think I’d ever heard of the Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower before.
I’ve been a devotee of the Perseids for decades and decades – pretty much all my life, to be honest.
Perseids or Aquariids?
I remember going down the cliff to the beach at the Cape, where the expansiveness of the sky was the greatest (notwithstanding Nauset’s “I-Love-You” light sweeping across the ocean and then across the scrub pines near the cottage). Yes, I remember the odd sensation of the sand of both the cliff and the beach feeling cool between my toes, even as I could dig them deeper to reach some residual warmth that had baked in a little below the surface.
But the Perseids usually peak in August (right around both Karls’ birthdays). It’s been a family ritual to jump into the car and drive about a mile from our house so we could lay out in a field to get the widest possible view of the entire sky. All my guys have indulged me in my delight at witnessing meteor showers and other astronomical events. They’re among my most treasured memories.
forbes.com
A Little More on the Aquariids
So I find it a little weird that I’ve never heard of the Delta Aquariids. They’ve been falling (meaning we’ve been passing through the debris of the MachHolz Comet) since approximately July 13thand will last until August 28th. The best opportunity to see the greatest number of ‘shooting stars’ (although obviously, technically, they are neither shooting nor stars – discuss), though, is tonight and probably tomorrow night, when there will be the most particles entering our atmosphere and the sky will be darker longer because it is a “new moon.”
And…Capricornids?!?
Apparently we’re in for ‘dueling’ meteor showers this year. If you follow the tail of each meteor you see, you can use your Sky Guide app to figure out where it originated. That’s one way to identify if it was one of the Aquariids, Capricornids, or Perseids.
I’m happy to report that I’ve already seen two gorgeous, surprisingly slow-moving arcs of light travel across the sky tonight. And there’s been an added lightning show taking place in the northern sky as well, which is a little off-putting, since there are no clouds in the sky.
My sightings this evening were actually quite a surprise. Everything I’ve read recently has recommended that you go outside and look up around midnight, so I was definitely looking up simply because I was outside!
One More Immersion Into the Night Sky
As soon as I publish this post, I’m going to go outside one more time to see what I can see.
As I’ve mentioned before in my various posts about eclipses and things, I adore witnessing natural phenomena. And as I lay on my back staring up at the sky tonight, I felt that sense of being such a teeny, tiny part of a vast and virtually limitless Universe.
I am in awe.
So I strongly urge you to turn out all your outdoor lights right now and venture outside. Unless, of course, you’re reading this Monday morning, in which case set your alarm and go out this evening at around midnight. You’ll be glad you did!
(T-852)