By: Elaine Chen

A breathtaking meteor shower is likely to happen on Tuesday morning as the Delta Aquariids light up the sky. The meteor shower is named after the constellation Aquarius and the brilliant star Delta Aquarii that it seemed to come from. Stargazers with the right conditions anywhere should be able to see up to 25 meteors an hour at its peak, which should be between midnight and dawn.

These amazing meteors are pieces of rock which range in size from a grain of sand to miles wide. When these flying rocks are still in space, they are called meteoroids but when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere they start to burn, leaving a trail of light, and become meteors. When there is a huge number of these all at once this is called a meteor shower. Annual meteor showers occur when a comet passes near the sun and bits of rock get loose as the ice on the rock melts. Sometimes comets have ice on them because space has a very low temperature.

This meteor shower should be visible to the naked eye if you’re looking at an area of the night sky with little or no light pollution. Light pollution means any artificial light, so it’s best to switch off any outdoor lights. It’s better to look up without a telescope or binoculars so you can see more of space. Stargazers should avoid looking at their phone and instead let their eyes get used to the dark.

Image Credit by ARMAN ALCORDO JR.