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A rare blue moon will brighten the sky on Friday

The meteor shower started on July 12 and will continue till August 23.

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The Delta Aquarid meteor shower came to its annual peak on July 28-29 with an estimated 15-20 meteors streaking overhead every hour.

But another celestial phenomenon may make catching the show a bit tough.

“We have tapped kegs for the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, new moons, Venus’ greatest eastern elongation, full moons and Saturn reaching its opposition”, noted Morris. The American Meteor Society has several good maps to help you find the constellation in the night sky. And because it’s the second full moon this month, we call it a “blue moon”. The last blue moon under this definition occurred August 21, 2013. The next will be January 2018. Like all full moonrises, it should offer some pretty photo opportunities for sky-hounds. Clear skies are a must for viewing, and getting as far away from sources of light pollution will reveal more meteors. “For the Meteor Shower Party I followed the Montauk Observatory for quite sometime and noticed that they did a lot of “Star Parties” where they would host an event for star viewing and guide guests through the night sky”. Due to the presence of a waxing gibbous – an nearly full moon – it may be hard to spot meteors.

We’ve got a couple meteor showers coming up in the next few weeks. To maximize your views, face Aquarius, which is rising low in the southeast after local midnight.

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The Delta Aquarids is a minor meteor shower that can be viewed around the world. Countless particles are deposited along the path of the comet, forming clumps and streams through which our planet passes regularly each year. However, some experts have pointed to 96P/Machholz, a comet discovered by an amateur astronomer in 1986.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2015 Gearing Up for Aug. 12-13 Peak