Meteor Showers To Be Visible In Michigan Tonight

Not one, but two meteor showers will be visible in the skies above Michigan Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.

Shooting stars will fly across the night skies tonight into tomorrow, with Michigan listed in one of the better viewing areas of the country for the show.

Meteors from the southern Delta Aquarids and the Alpha Capricornids will shoot across the skies tonight, and with clouds only a slight possibility, West Michigan astronomy fans should get a pretty good look if they live away from the light pollution of the city.

The Alpha Capricornids is the weaker of the two meteor showers, but it could prove to be the one that is most intriguing according to AccuWeather.

“What is notable about this shower is the number of bright fireballs produced during its activity period,” the American Meteor Society (AMS) explained.

Fireballs are incredibly bright meteors that can light up the entire night sky for a few seconds. They also are visible for much longer than the typical shooting star, glowing for several seconds as they streak through the sky.

“Vivid colors are more often reported by fireball observers because the brightness is great enough to fall well within the range of human color vision,” the AMS said.

“The dominant composition of a meteoroid can play an important part in the observed colors of a fireball, with certain elements displaying signature colors when vaporized.”