Southern Delta Aquariids (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Southern Delta Aquariids are a meteor shower visible from mid July to mid August each year with peak activity on July 28 or 29 July. The shower originated from the breakup of what are now the Marsden and Kracht Sungrazing comets. The Delta Aquariids get their name because their radiant appears to lie in the constellation Aquarius, near one of the constellation's brightest stars, Delta Aquarii. The name derives from the Latin possessive form "Aquarii," whereby the declension "-i" is replaced by "-ids" (hence Aquariids with two i's). There are two branches of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower, Southern and Northern. The Southern Delta Aquariids are considered a strong shower, with an average meteor observation rate of 15-20 per hour, and a peak zenith hourly rate of 18. The average radiant is at RA=339, DEC= 17 . The Northern Delta Aquariids are a weaker shower, peaking later in mid August, with an average peak rate of 10 meteors per hour and an average radiant of RA=340, DEC= 2 .