By: Emily Liu

The Delta Aquarids, a meteor shower likely to be visible Tuesday morning, July 30th, 2024, is a fascinating event, likely to be enjoyed by people all over the country. This spectacular meteor shower is named after the constellation Aquarius, and the bright star Delta Aquarii.

Meteors are rocks in space that vary between the size of a grain of sand, to miles wide. When those rocks are in space, they are called meteoroids. When they come into the Earth’s atmosphere and leave a trail of fire, they are called meteors. If a meteor lands on Earth, it is called a meteorite. When there is a group of meteors, it is called a meteor shower.

Stargazers with the right conditions should be able to at least be able to see about 25 meteors per hour around midnight to dawn, its highest peak. The best way to enjoy a meteor shower is to turn off your phones and other light pollution. The meteor shower should be visible to the naked eye, without light pollution. Light pollution is any sort of artificial light, including your computer, phones, even the light a refrigerator has! So turn off any electrical devices. It is also better without binoculars or telescopes, so you can see a wider area.

Even though meteors seem beautiful, it is actually pretty dangerous, think about those poor dinosaurs when a meteor hit the earth millions of years ago, wiping out almost all of the organisms on the face of earth, only leaving fossils behind!