He is July 30 will be held on pico of activity of the Delta Aquarids 2022. It’s a moderately active meteor shower that usually goes unnoticed in favor of the ever-popular Perseids. But this year the decor are different.
When can you enjoy the Delta Aquarids?
The truth is that 2022 is a bad year in terms of big meteor showers. The Perseids they will coincide with the Moon in the process of full moon. In other words, the brightness of our satellite will be a big problem throughout the night.
By masking the fainter meteors, we will see fewer shooting stars than in other years. To make matters worse, the geminids will correspond to the Moon in the process of last quarterso we are facing the same problem.
The ace Delta Aquarids 2022, however, they coincide with the moon in phase new Moon, which will take place two days before. So, although its activity is much less, it will be a good opportunity to observe the sky.
Under ideal conditions, Delta Aquarids can reach 25 meteors per hour. This estimate assumes that the observation is made under ideal conditions. That is, without any light pollution, with the moon in the new moon phase.
Moreover, also with the radiant high in the sky and in the best viewing hours. If these factors change, we will naturally see a smaller amount. For all this, from Spain we can expect to see between 12 and 18 meteors per hour, approx.
In the Iberian Peninsula we can expect to see around 12-15, depending on where we are. From Canary Islands the figure will be closer to 18 meteors per hour. Of course, without any light pollution.
Where to see the best way?
One of the factors that plays against us the most, in any astronomical rendezvous, is the light contamination. The impact of city light, for example, is enormous. In big cities, like Madrid or Barcelona, you can see a derisory amount of stars.
The contrast is enormous with the observation conditions in rural areas, far from large populations. The sky is completely different, allowing us to see, if the conditions are met, even the nebulosity of the Milky Way.
For this reason, tools like Light Pollution Map are extremely useful. At a glance, we can see the level of light pollution in our surroundings. If we click on any point on the map, we will get the data for that area.
Here, for example, we can see that in Madrid (and surroundings), light pollution reaches 8-9 on the Bortle scale. That is, it is the worst degree of light pollution, preventing us from seeing almost everything but the brightest objects.
However, in the deer (a population of barely 30 inhabitants in Cuenca, according to 2018 INE data), we end up with a class 3 sky. Therefore, the observation conditions will be much better.
Naturally, it is not necessary to travel hundreds of kilometers from home, but we can look around for a place with the least polluted sky possible. This will allow us to observe many more objects in the sky.
Best times to see the 2022 Delta Aquarids
The pico of activity of the Delta Aquarids should happen around mediocrity from July 30 In Spain. Therefore, the best viewing times will be the hours before sunrise. Around 04:00 in the morning, the best conditions will be given.
The radiant, the point from which the shooting stars will appear, will be in the constellation Aquarius. The higher it is in the sky, the more meteors we can expect to see in the sky.
However, you must remember that it is best to observe the rest of the sky. Although the radiant is the point from which meteors appear to originate, it is not where they originate. They can appear anywhere in the sky.
In addition, it is advisable to reach square of observation nail half an hour earlier of when we want to start observing. This way our eyes will have enough time to adjust to the darkness and thus see more meteors.
The larger the region of the sky we can see, the better, because we will have an easier time seeing the meteors. It is possible that we will also see meteors from other meteor showers (of very little activity) active on these dates.
Ultimately, the Delta Aquarids they will be one good excuse to observe the sky in 2022. The Perseids will continue to be a great attraction, but the observation conditions will not be the best this year compared to the others.