Meteors near the late July new Moon - 2025 July 31st to August 1st

[Rick]

For meteor observing it helps if there's no bright Moon in the sky. It also helps if you can watch the sky all night without getting tired. My Global Meteor Network cameras are good at catching these sorts of opportunities.

This is a tracked stack of the meteors caught by my two Global Meteor Network cameras on the night of July 31st to August 1st, 2025. The north-west facing camera saw 88 meteors (37 Perseids, 7 alpha Capricornids, 7 Southern delta Aquarids, 4 eta Eridanids, 3 Northern delta Aquarids, 3 Picis Australinids, 3 psi Cassiopeiids and 20 others). The north-east facing camera saw 121 meteors  (37 Perseids, 14 Southern delta Aquarids, 12 alpha Capricornids, 3 Picis Australinids, 2 psi Cassiopeiids and 42 others). There's a small zone of overlap, so some meteors were seen by both cameras. The two brightest meteors are alpha Capricornids.


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Note that the Perseids are already making a good showing almost two weeks before their maximum. The alpha Capricornids are also quite prominent, and responsible for the two brightest meteors in this image.