Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Friday, July 26th.  The sun rises at 6:22.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 9:14.   The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:13 this evening.

We are now reaching the peak of the South Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which is hampered by the waning gibbous moon in the morning sky, where it’s visible. This is also the time to begin to look for the Perseid meteors that will reach peak next month on the morning of the 12th.  The Perseids are an all night meteor shower because the radiant point, the point from which the meteors seem to come is far enough north so it never sets.  The largest number of meteors appear when the radiant is highest in the sky, before dawn.  However as soon as it gets dark the low position of the radiant in the northeast will result in fewer meteors but the streaks will be longer, as the meteoroids hit the atmosphere at a low angle.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

South Delta Aquarid meteor shower at peak and Persieds firing up at 1 a.m. July 27, 2013. PerR and DAqR are the radiants.