#Shooting star wars: How to watch dueling meteor showers Tuesday night

“Comet of the century” NEOWISE may have faded away, but stargazers can still peer skyward to another rare cosmic event — a double meteor shower. The phenomenon — which is comprised of southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids — will mark the first visible “moderate” meteor spectacle since May, according to AccuWeather.

Viewers can expect to see between 15 to 20 space rocks per hour, as well as an abundance of glowing streaks and fireballs — incredibly bright meteors that can illuminate an entire night sky, reported the American Meteor Society. 

Where do Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids come from?

Meteor showers occur when comet debris hits the Earth’s upper atmosphere at about 90,000 miles per hour. The Alpha Capricornids come from Comet 169P/NEAT, while the Southern Delta Aquariids splintered off the Comet 96P Machholz, which follows a five-year orbit around the sun, reported Penn Live. 

Both have radiant points — the spot in the sky where the meteor paths appear to originate — in the southern sky close to Saturn and Jupiter.

How do the dual meteor showers differ?

Both events allow for stunning sky-rotechnics — although they express themselves slightly differently. Delta Aquariid meteors paint the sky with radiant trails of ionized gas that last for several seconds in the meteor’s wake. Meanwhile, despite appearing to be the slower and weaker of the two, Alpha Capricornids produce a barrage of fireballs that are visible for much longer than a shooting star is.

“Vivid colors are more often reported by fireball observers because the brightness is great enough to fall well within the range of human color vision,” reported the AMS.

When do the July 2020 meteor showers start?

The cosmic double-feature will reach its peak Tuesday night, July 28, and will continue into the morning hours on Wednesday, July 29. However, amateur astronomers might want to pop some caffeine pills as they’ll be most visible after 1 a.m.

Where is the best place to see the meteor showers?

The interstellar fireworks display is best observed from the lower Mississippi Valley, through parts of the Great Lakes region and across the interior West, according to AOL. For optimal viewing, stargazers should watch from dark, cloudless vantage points away from city lights.