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Kamloops News

Meteor shower to peak early next week

Image Credit: Jimmy Westlake via NASA

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Grab a date, a blanket and a bottle of wine and prepare to spend a night gazing up at the sky during the peak of a month-long meteor shower early next week.

The Delta Aquarids meteor shower runs annually from July 12 to Aug. 23 and this year the peak will occur in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 30 in B.C. The average shower can produce up to 20 meteors per hour during the peak. The ‘shooting stars’ will radiate upward from the southern sky and could be visible a couple days before and after the peak as well.

The peak occurs during the new moon, which leaves the skies dark and makes it easier to see the faint meteors after midnight. They will appear to radiate from the Aquarius constellation and will travel at about 41 kilometres per second.

In August the Delta Aquarids will be joined by the Perseids, which will radiate in the northern part of the sky.

For best viewing of the meteor shower, find an area away from city lights and lie flat on your back. It could take up to 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness and then you should be able to spot the meteors.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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