Monday Night Meteors: what you need to know about tonight’s meteor shower
CTV
Two meteor showers – the southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids – are expected to peak overnight.
It could be a double feature in Monday’s night sky.
Two meteor showers – the southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids – are expected to peak overnight.
“Meteor activity always peaks in the summertime,” Scott Young, Manitoba Museum’s planetarium astronomer, told CTV News. “Now, there’s actually over 100 different meteor showers throughout the year, but most of them are very, very minor. The two that are peaking tonight are kind of on the minor side.”
Young said there may not be a lot of activity tonight, but said there should be plenty to see over the coming weeks, culminating with the Perseid meteor shower around August 12.
Young explained meteors are specks of dust crashing into Earth’s atmosphere at tremendous speeds. The friction causes the dust to vaporize in a flash of light – which is what we see on a clear night. He said the best time to spot them here in Manitoba is between midnight and dawn.
“This is a late-night kind of thing,” Young said. “After midnight, the floodlights sort of go on, and you get a lot more afterwards.”
Young encourages people to head out of town and avoid bright lights. He said that includes turning the car headlights off once parked and avoiding looking at phone screens.
