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Ephemeris: 07/29/2024 – Late July’s meteor shower

July 29, 2024

This is Ephemeris for Monday, July 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 9:11, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:27. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 1:26 tomorrow morning.

There are more meteor showers that occur in the second-half of the year than there are in the first six months of the year. I don’t know why that is. The first of these major showers is the Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower. There happens to be a few meteor showers at appear to emanate from the constellation of Aquarius so they named them after the closest star to the direction they appear to come from at their maximum. The star Delta in the southern part of Aquarius is associated with two meteor showers. This one appears to be coming from south of that star. And are only an eighth as active as the Perseids that we’re going to have next month partly because the radiant point doesn’t get very high in the sky.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT–4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

A look at the sky centered facing approximately southeast at 4 o'clock in the morning
A look at the partial sky dome centered facing approximately southeast at 4 o’clock in the morning tomorrow, July 30th 2024. The waning crescent Moon will still be out along with the planets Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in the south. The fat crescent Moon will hamper the meteor shower a bit. Labeled are the active showers at that time. The showers labeled in yellow are at their peak, or very nearly at their peak. The other named showers are not at their peak, and may only provide a few meteors per hour. Only the Perseids and Southern Delta Aquariids are considered major showers. Actually the Southern Delta Aquariids will be at peak in the morning, providing about 18 meteors per hour on average at the 4 o’clock morning hour. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
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