Devon Salasin says the upcoming meteor showers will peak together on the night of July 30 into the early hours of July 31, 2026. The Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids will share that window, but a nearly full moon will make many of the fainter meteors harder to catch.
Under ideal conditions, the Southern Delta Aquariids can produce around 25 meteors per hour, while the Alpha Capricornids usually produce about five. Salasin, head astronomer at Stargazing Moab, said the overlap happens by complete happenstance when debris trails from two different comets intersect where Earth passes through.
Devon Salasin and Alex Gianninas
Alex Gianninas, an astronomy professor at Connecticut College, said the two showers come from slightly different spots in the sky, known as radiant points. He described the Southern Delta Aquariids as more frequent faint streaks and the Alpha Capricornids as slower, dazzling fireballs.
Gianninas also said, “Most meteors are very small, sometimes the size of small dust particles, whereas meteors that create a more visible fireball are large in size, from pebble to boulder-sized chunks of rock,” and added, “Colors of various ionizing elements can be more visible.”
July 29 and July 31
July’s full moon arrives on July 29, 2026, and the moon will be about 98 percent illuminated during the peak the following night. That brightness will wash out much of the faint activity, so the best approach is to find the darkest available location and give your eyes at least 20 minutes to adjust.
No telescope is necessary, and meteors can appear anywhere overhead. Both showers are best viewed after midnight, when their radiant points rise higher in the sky.
Night of August
Salasin said, “Stay with it, and you can maybe see a glimpse of what this shower is best known for—slow-moving, bright fireballs.” The next meteor shower mentioned is the Perseids, due to peak the night of August 12 into the morning of August 13.
