With three meteor showers at the same time this weekend, and with two of them at their peaks, you’re very likely to see shooting stars in the night sky over Beaufort.
This Saturday night sees the peak of the Delta Aquarids meteor shower. It comes at a time when reports of its meteors being seen are increasing. The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is caused by dust and debris that is left in the inner Solar System by Comet 96P/Machhol. The peak is July 30th & 31st.
Also peaking on Saturday & Sunday, at the same time, are the alpha Capricornids. It’s a smaller meteor shower caused by debris from comet 169P/NEAT; but it still awes us with a few good meteors per hour at the peak.
Also in the sky right now is the famous Perseids meteor shower which started on July 7th and can be seen through August 24th. The Perseids will shine with showers peaking when Earth passes through the densest and dustiest area of the comet on August 12th & 13th; but that just means we’ll see the most meteors in the shortest amount of time near the peak.
You can still catch some action from the Perseids shower before or after that point, which means they’ll be in the sky this weekend, too.
Also, the Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers with the potential to see 100 meteors per hour at its peak and it always occurs with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them. They’re caused by the comet Swift-Tuttle, which is the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth; its nucleus is about 16 miles wide and Earth passes through the dust and debris field that it leaves behind every year.
Any way you look at it, there’s a great chance you’ll probably see shooting stars over Beaufort SC this weekend.
Enjoy the show.
