3 Meteor Showers To Light Up WA Skies In July: How To Watch

WASHINGTON — With summer finally in full swing across Western Washington and clear skies for the foreseeable future, the stage is set for an especially active stretch of stargazing nights. The northern lights made an appearance over some parts of Washington Tuesday morning, and a trio of meteor showers will add to the celestial mix over the coming weeks.

The Perseid meteor shower is underway now, giving Puget Sound skywatchers good reason to stretch out under the early morning sky and dream while wide awake.

Warm summer nights are beckoning. Many parts of the country are suffering under a scorching heat wave, according to the forecast from AccuWeather. In Washington, the National Weather Service's seven-day forecast calls for mostly sunny skies, clear nights, and pleasant temperatures this week, before things heat up next week.

The Perseids are only one reason to start scanning the skies over Washington. Here’s reason No. 2: The Delta Aquariid (sometimes spelled Aquarid) meteor shower runs through Aug. 2, peaking July 28-29, with about 20 meteors an hour.

A new moon will mean dark skies, so viewing conditions should be excellent, but keep in mind this shower favors southern latitudes, according to the American Meteor Society.

And here’s reason No. 3: The Alpha Capricornids, which run through Aug. 15 and have a “plateau-like” peak on July 31, may be one of the more underrated meteor showers of the summer. Granted, the American Meteor Society said it is “not very strong,” rarely producing more than five meteors an hour. But you shouldn’t dismiss it, either.

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“What is notable about this shower,” the organization pointed out on its website, “is the number of bright fireballs produced during its activity period.”

Consider both the Delta Aquariids and Capricornids dress rehearsals for the spectacular Perseids. “Summering” doesn’t get better than this.

The best views of the extraordinarily bright Perseids will come at their Aug. 11-13 peak, and you won’t want to miss that. But you should start watching the skies before dawn up until then because the full sturgeon supermoon will compete for attention at the peak.

Skywatchers should still get a good show, though. The Perseids produce about 50 to 100 meteors an hour at the peak, according to NASA. The shower is produced by the comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862.

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Like the Alpha Capricornids, the Perseids are known for their fireballs, which are “larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak,” NASA said, explaining, “This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material.”

The shower is called the Perseids because its radiant point is located near the prominent constellation of Perseus the hero.

Check back with Patch for more about the Perseids when the peak approaches.