where is aquarius?

Question

i heard there is soposed to be a meteor shower tonight, and you should face aquarius to get the best view. but i have no idea which constelation is aquarius and which direction to face to see it. can anyone help me? i live in oklahoma city.

Answer 1

You might like to know about other upcoming meteor showers, and about the Delta Aquarids?

Following the July 28th Delta Aquarids firework displays, we are next entertained by the annual Perseid meteor showers between August 8-14th. peaking August 12th, the biggest fireworks party of the year.

There are other, less spectacular, displays too:

UPCOMING SHOWERS
Name .............Duration....... Peak.. Strength
Alpha Cygnids Jul 11-Jul 30 Jul 18 Weak
Sigma Capricornids Jul 15-Aug 11 Jul 20 Weak
Pisces Austrinids Jul 15-Aug 10 Jul 28 Medium
South Delta Aquarids Jul 12-Aug 19 Jul 28 Strong
Alpha Capricornids Jul 3-Aug 15 Jul 30 Medium
South Iota Aquarids Jul 25-Aug 15 Aug 4 Medium
North Delta Aquarids Jul 15-Aug 25 Aug 8 Medium
Perseids Jul 17-Aug 24 Aug 12 Strong
Kappa Cygnids Aug 3-Aug 25 Aug 17 Medium
North Iota Aquarids Aug 11-Aug 31 Aug 20 Medium
Pi Eridanids Aug 20-Sep 5 Aug 25 Weak
Gamma Doradids Aug 19-Sep 6 Aug 28 Weak
Alpha Aurigids Aug 25-Sep 5 Sep 1 Medium

SO WHY DO WE GET METEOR SHOWERS AT THE SAME TIME EACH YEAR?

From earliest times, humankind has noticed flurries of meteors that seemed to emanate from particular points in the sky at particular times of the year. These flurries, now called meteor showers, are produced by small fragments of cosmic debris entering the earth's atmosphere at extremely high speed. When the number of meteors is large, it is called a meteor storm.

Each time a periodic comet swings by the Sun, it produces large amounts of small particles which will eventually spread out along the entire orbit of the comet to form a meteoroid "stream". If the Earth's orbit and the comet's orbit intersect at some point, then the Earth will pass through this stream for a few days at roughly the same time each year, producing a meteor shower. The parent bodies (comets) of most known meteor showers have now been identified.

Most meteors seen in meteor showers are caused by particles smaller than a grain of sand. As a result it is very rare to have any meteorites hit the ground during a typical meteor shower.

Because meteor shower particles are all traveling in parallel paths, and at the same velocity, they will all appear to radiate from a single point in the sky to an observer below. This radiant point is caused by the effect of perspective, similar to railroad tracks converging at a single vanishing point on the horizon when viewed from the middle of the tracks.

DELTA AQUARIDS
The Southern Delta Aquarids are a meteor shower visible from mid July to mid August each year with peak activity on July 28 or 29 July. The parent body for this shower is unknown.

The Delta Aquarids get their name because their radiant appears to lie in the constellation Aquarius, near one of the constellation's brightest stars, Delta Aquarii. There are two branches of the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, Southern and Northern. The Southern Delta Aquarids are considered a strong shower, with an average meteor observation rate of 15-20 per hour, and a possible peak of 60. The average radiant is at RA=339°, DEC=-17°.

The Northern Delta Aquarids 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°.

The Delta Aquarids are best viewed in the pre-dawn hours away from the glow of city lights. Southern Hemisphere viewers usually get a better show because the radiant is higher in the sky during the peak season. Since the radiant is above the southern horizon, meteors will primarily be fanning out through all compass points between east to north to west. Few meteors will be seen heading southward, unless they are fairly short and near the radiant.

PERSEIDS
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle.

The shower is visible from mid-July each year, but the bulk of its activity falls between August 8th and 14th with a peak on August 12th. During the peak, rates of a hundred or more meteors per hour can be registered.

Meteor showers can be seen when Earth moves through a meteor stream. The stream in this case is called the Perseid cloud and it stretches along the orbit of the Comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud is comprised of particles ejected by the comet as it passed by the Sun. Most of the dust in the cloud today is approximately a thousand years old.

However, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that boiled off the comet in 1862. The approximate rate of meteors originating from this filament is much higher than normal.

The Perseids are called so because the point they appear to be coming from, called the radiant, is in the constellation of Perseus. However, they can be spotted all around the sky. Because of the positioning of Swift-Tuttle's orbit, Perseids are mostly visible on the northern hemisphere.

The famous Perseid meteor shower has been observed for about 2000 years, with the first known information on these meteors coming from the far east.

Answer 2

You do not need to face Aquarius...just look up! That bit advice is one of the biggest misunderstandings about meteor showers...and the news media ALWAYS gets it wrong!! Meteors can, and WILL, appear anywhere in the sky. However, if you traced the path of each meteor backward, they would all converge on the constellation of Aquarius...rather all the meteors are radiating from Aquarius, which is why they are called the Aquariids. But again, a meteor can radiate from Aquarius and still appear at the opposite end of the sky.

Here's the basic routine to meteor watching. If you can, get away from city lights...you'll see three or four times as many meteors in a good dark place. Next, stay up late or get up early...the best time to observe them is between midnight and dawn. (I'll explain that below.) Finally, get comfortable...bring a reclining lawn chair, lay back and just look up! Avoid blinking if you can...just joking. A common mistake I discovered going out with groups of friends, is that people would stand around talking...looking at each other instead of the sky. We missed a lot of meteors because of that.

Now, why after midnight is better. Imagine throwing a baseball through a hailstorm...more hail is going to hit the frontside of the baseball than the backside. After midnight, you are on the front side of the earth as it travels in its orbit...and the meteor shower is just like a big hail storm in space.

Answer 3

You are asking about the Delta Aquarids.

Aquarius will begin to rise over your Eastern horizon (may 10 degrees slightly south) around 9:00 pm, but you won't see the whole constellation until at least 11:30 pm (the horizon depends on your altitude and local geography; light pollution can be an issue, also). The Constellation is tadpole or sperm-shaped :-), and rising "backwards" or tail-first.

According to the Sky & Telescope site (below), the meteors should start to appear over your East/Southeastern Horizon around 10 pm. Keep in mind that these things aren't like fireworks and not for those with short attention spans (although, you might find someway to keep yourself suitably warm and entertained...)

I guess these things tend to "peak" at 2 am.

By 3:30 AM, the "body" will have have travelled to a point where it crossed the prime meridian (a line going from north to south and directly overhead), maybe halfway between the zenith and the southern celestial pole.

The heavens-above site also gives you a sky chart as well as lists other objects in the sky that may be fun to look for (satellites, spacecraft debris, and the ISS!).

Have fun. You might want to review the lists of "things to bring" and "how to's" for night observations that can be found on the web.

Answer 4

Aquarius will be on the eastern horizon about the time it gets dark. By midnight, you can see the Y-shaped "water jar" asterism in the southeast. See the link below for an interactive online sky chart.

The meteors will originate from a couple of spots below the water jar, but they will be scattered across the sky and relatively few of them will actually be in or near Aquarius. The best way to watch is reclining in a chaise longue. You will see a lot more in a dark sky, so try to find a location away from any lights. Avoid using lights yourself, to preserve your dark adaptation.

You will see more meteors in the hours before dawn, as that is when the Earth is rotating into the path of the meteoroids. You don't nee binoculars or telescope - meteor showers are best observed naked eye.

Answer 5

Aquarius rises about 11 PM in the southeast and will be high in the south during the early morning hours. It is better to view meteors after midnight because that part of Earth is running into the meteors. Think of it like a car. Most of the bugs smash into the windshield and not the back window because the car is running into the bugs as it drives. Earth is running into meteors in it's orbit and the morning side is the front while the evening side is the the rear.

Answer 6

Aquarius is just south of the prominent autumn constellation of Pegasus. A distinct sign of Aquarius is the small Y shaped group of four stars directly left of Sadalmelek the main star in the constellation.

Answer 7

South of Pegasus and north of Fomalhaut. And it's right close to Uranus! You certainly should be able to find it now! Ha ha. I've been astronaughty.

Answer 8

aquarius is a club in novalja,zrce,croatia....hehe =)

Answer 9

ask a scientist