Tonight is your best chance to see the Delta Aquariid meteor shower thanks to the New Moon

If you are a stargazing fan, make sure your eyes are fixed on the sky tonight.

While the Delta Aquariids meteor shower officially peaks on Friday night, tonight is your best chance to see a shooting star.

That’s because starting at 6:55 p.m. BST tonight there will be a New Moon – the phase of the Moon in which the illuminated side faces the Sun, making our moon satellites invisible in the night sky.

While Delta Aquariids may be hard to spot, the lack of light pollution from the New Moon will make shooting stars really stand out in the night sky.

While the Delta Aquariids meteor shower is officially at its peak this weekend, tonight is your best chance to see a shooting star

Tonight there will be a New Moon – the phase of the Moon in which the illuminated side faces the Sun, making our moon satellites invisible in the night sky

Tips for viewing the Delta Aquariids meteor shower

The Southern Aquariids Delta is best seen in the Southern Hemisphere and the southern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

If you want to see it, NASA advises: ‘Find an area away from cities or street lights.

‘Be prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or garden chair.

‘Lie on your back and look up, looking up at the sky as much as you can.

‘Looking halfway between the horizon and the zenith, and 45 degrees from the constellation Aquarius will increase your chances of seeing the Southern Delta Aquariids.

‘In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will start seeing meteors.

‘Be patient – ​​the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.’

‘Southern Delta Aquariids are active from mid-July and visible until late August,’ NASA explains.

‘This faint meteor is hard to spot, and if the Moon was visible, you wouldn’t be able to see it.’

Meteors come from the remains of comets and asteroids that break up.

As comets orbit the Sun, the dust they emit gradually disperses into dusty trails around their orbits.

As Earth passed through this debris trail, the debris collided with our atmosphere where they disintegrated, creating beautiful streaks of fire across the sky.

The bits of space debris that interacted with our atmosphere to create Delta Aquariids came from comet 96P/Machholz, which orbits the Sun every five years.

‘Comet Machholz was discovered by Donald Machholz in 1986,’ NASA explains.

‘Comet Machholz’s core is about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) across (a little more than half the size of the object hypothesized to have caused the death of the dinosaurs).’

The meteor radiation – the point in the sky from which they emerge – is the constellation Aquarius, which gave its name to the shared showerhead with Delta, the third brightest star in the constellation.

‘Note: The constellations named meteor showers serve only to assist viewers in determining which showers they see on a given night,’ NASA added.

‘The constellations are not the source of the meteors.’

The New Moon is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the bright side facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth. While Delta Aquariids can be hard to spot, the lack of light pollution from the New Moon will make shooting stars really stand out in the night sky.

The bits of space debris that interacted with our atmosphere to create Delta Aquariids came from comet 96P/Machholz, which orbits the Sun every five years.

Every shooting star will be very visible tonight thanks to the New Moon.

Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates.

The sun always illuminates half of the moon, while the other half remains dark, but how much we can see of that illuminated half changes as the Moon moves through its orbit.

The New Moon is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the bright side facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth.

The Southern Aquariids Delta is best seen in the Southern Hemisphere and the southern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates. The sun always illuminates half of the moon, while the other half remains dark, but how much we can see of that glowing half changes as the Moon moves through its orbit.

If you want to see it, NASA advises: ‘Find an area away from cities or street lights.

‘Be prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or garden chair.

‘Lie on your back and look up, looking up at the sky as much as you can.

‘Looking halfway between the horizon and the zenith, and 45 degrees from the constellation Aquarius will increase your chances of seeing the Southern Delta Aquariids.

‘In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will start seeing meteors.

‘Be patient – ​​the show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.’

REMAINING METEOR RAIN IN 2022

Delta Aquarids: 30 – 25 July per hour – Stable flow for days

Alpha Capricornid: July 30 – 5 per hour – Yellow slow fireball

Perseid: August 12-13 – 100 per hour – Bright and fast meteor by train

Draconid: October 8-9 – 10 per hour – From comet Giacbini-Zimmer

Orionid: October 21-22 – 25 per hour – Fast with good trains

Taurid: October 10-11 (South), November 12-13 (North) – 5 per hour – Very slow

Leonid: November 17-18 – 10 per hour – Fast and sunny

Geminid: December 14-15 – 150 per hour – Sunny and plentiful, few trains

Ursid: December 22-23 – 10 per hour – Rarely shower

Note: Dates refer to each peak of rain

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