Southern Delta Aquariids

The Southern Delta Aquariids are a meteor shower visible from mid July to mid August each year with peak activity on 28 or 29 July. The comet of origin is not known with certainty. A suspected candidate is Comet 96P Machholz. Earlier, it was thought to have originated from 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 zenithal 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°.