METEOR SHOWERS 2020

Let's take a brief look at some of the upcoming meteor showers for 2020.

So far we have seen the Quadrantids on January 4 2020.

Let’s take a look at some of the remaining meteor showers for 2020. Please note these are from a Southern Hemisphere perspective, please check your favourite App or planetarium software to see where and when these showers will be best visible to you in the more northern latitudes.
All the images below are taken from SkySafari 6Pro, a link to the webpage is in the right column on this page.

THE LYRIDS METEOR SHOWER, APRIL 22 2020.

The Lyrids appear in late April of each year and are associated with comet Thatcher from 1861.

The Lyrids can be seen anywhere between the 15^th and 25th of April, this year they will peak on the 22^nd of April.

The radiant for this shower is in the constellation Lyra and is best seen from the Northern Hemisphere. From the Southern hemisphere you might get lucky and see a few low on your Northern horizon, the constellation Lyra will be about 20 degrees above the horizon just after 4AM(From South Africa), so a early morning view.

Check your favourite planetarium app or software to determine when it will be best viewed from your location.

This shower can produce between 10 to 15 meteors per hour but could also have a surge of up 100 PH, although not very common but they do make the Lyrids more unpredictable and interesting.

THE ETA AQUARIIDS MAY 5 2020.

The Eta Aquariids are seen in early May each year and are best seen at 4AM on the morning of the 5^th May.

The quadrant for this meteor shower lies in the constellation Aquarius and is associated with the periodic comet 1P/Halley.

This meteor shower is best suited to those of us in the Southern Hemisphere with a hourly average of a meteor per minute. From the more northerly latitudes expect to see far less numbers.

On the morning of the 5^th look to your eastern horizon and the constellation Aquarius as they meteors appear to radiate from it.

Once again it is best suited to early morning viewing as Aquarius rises in the east at around 2AM with the sun rising at 6AM, so probably best from about 3 to 5 AM.

Also of interest here are the planets in the same area of sky, be sure to look for Jupiter, Saturn, Mars naked eye and in the scope you can also see Pluto and Neptune, so might be worth getting the scope out too.

THE DELTA AQUARIIDS, LATE JULY.

Once again the Delta Aquariids are best suited to us here in the Southern hemisphere. These do not have a peak but are probably best seen between the 27^th and 30^th of July and it is thought they may originate from comet 96P/Machholz

Expect to see a average of 15-20 per hour under darker skies as many of these are very feint meteors, so less under more polluted skies.

Again the meteors quadrant lies in the constellation Aquarius.

Look this time to your Western horizon a hour or two before dawn to catch sight of the show in the constellation Aquarius.

THE PERSEIDS, 9-14 AUGUST 2020.

I include this meteor shower since it is by far the most popular even though it is a bust here in the Southern Hemisphere.

Expect to see anything from 50-100 meteors per our that originate from periodic comet Swift-Tuttle.

This meteor shower has it’s quadrant in the constellation Perseus.

From the Southern Hemisphere you will need to look to your Northern horizon and the constellation Perseus, again this is best seen in the early hours before sunrise.

THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TAURIDS.

The Southern Taurids start from 25 September through 25^th November and the Northern Taurids run from October 12^th to December 5^th.

Although these last for quite some time they only produce a sprinkling of meteors with averages around 5 per hour, however they do produce nice fireballs!

To see the Northern Taurids look toward your NW horizon and the constellation Taurus from October 12^th to December 2^nd.

To see the Southern Taurids look toward your Western horizon and the constellation Taurus from 25^th September to 25^th November.

THE LEONIDS, NOVEMBER 17 2020.

This is one of the better meteor showers that produces everything from fireballs and Earthgrazers to meteor storms!

This shower is associated with comet Temple-Tuttle.

Every 33 years Earth passes through the densest dust and that is when the spectacular meteor storms are produced, the last such storm occurred in 2002. During the 1966 storm over 1000 meteors per hour fell into the Earths atmosphere in a 15 minute period!

Again this shower is best seen in the early morning hours before sunrise, look toward your N, NE horizon for the constellation Leo as this is where the quadrant for this shower lies.

These will probably be the best meteor showers for you to see, in my opinion, from our southerly latitudes for this year, there are others but they do not offer as much as the above.

So have fun and get out there and make a wish on a falling star!