Technologies

You Can See Two Meteor Showers at Once In July’s Night Sky. Here’s How to Catch a Glimpse

Peaking at their full glory on the same day in July are the Alpha Capricornids and Southern Delta Aquariids meteor showers. Here’s when to look up.

While you may not have ever seen one, meteor showers actually happen all year. In fact, they happen so often that they overlap for significant percentages of the year. There are two times when three meteor showers will be active in October, for example. But a rarer feat? Having two meteor showers that peak at the same time. It’ll happen later this month, on July 29.

The show will come courtesy of the Alpha Capricornids and Southern delta Aquariids meteor showers. The former began on Saturday and runs through Aug. 12, with a peak of July 29. Southern delta Aquariids will start on July 28, peaks early on July 29, and then runs until Aug. 12 as well. That means for one evening, the two meteor showers are peaking at the same time, giving stargazers a much better chance at catching a shooting star.

Of the two, the Southern delta Aquarids is typically the larger meteor shower, tossing upwards of 25 meteors per hour during its zenith. Alpha Capricornids is a lesser meteor shower, with about five per hour on average. Combined, they’ll output an estimated 30 per hour.

How to see two meteor showers at once

Since the meteors are coming from two different points in the sky, you would think spotting meteors from both would be difficult, but that is far from the truth.

Alpha Capricornids, which hails from the 169P/NEAT comet, originates from the Capricornus constellation. It will rise from the eastern skies across the continental US around sunset and streak across the southern sky, setting in the western sky at sunrise.

For the Southern delta Aquariids, its radiant — the point from which its meteors seem to originate — is the Aquarius constellation. Aquarius is right next to Capricornus. That means it also rises out of the eastern horizon, streaks across the southern sky, and sets in the western horizon around dawn.

If you have trouble finding either of them, Stellarium’s free sky map will help you hunt them down. Set the time, date and location, and you’re off to the races. Once you find one, the other one is essentially right there next to it.

Tips on spotting shooting stars

As per the norm, the tips here are the same as they are for the aurora borealis and planet parades. Light pollution and weather are your two biggest enemies. Since you can only do anything about one of those, let’s focus on light pollution. You’ll want to drive as far away from the city and suburbs as possible, as the light pollution will make it difficult to see the dimmer meteors. The further away you are, the better, as even suburban light pollution can obfuscate most meteors.

Once out there, you just have to sit and wait. Since the constellations will move across the south as you watch, you may have to rotate your chair if you’re out there for a while. Otherwise, a pair of binoculars may help. Telescopes aren’t recommended, as they obscure your field of view and may actively obstruct your ability to see meteors.

Technologies

Google Rolls Out Latest AI Model, Gemini 3.1 Pro

Starting Thursday, Gemini 3.1 Pro can be accessed via the AI app, NotebookLM and more.

Google took the wraps off its latest AI model, Gemini 3.1 Pro, on Thursday, calling it a «step forward in core reasoning.» The software giant says its latest model is smarter and more capable for complex problem-solving.

Google shared a series of bookmarks and examples of the latest model’s capabilities, and is rolling out Gemini 3.1 to a series of products for consumers, enterprise and developers.

The overall AI model landscape seems to change weekly. Google’s release comes just a few days after Anthropic dropped the latest version of Claude, Sonnet 4.6, which can operate a computer at a human baseline level.

Benchmarks of Gemini 3.1

Google shared some details about AI model benchmarks for Gemini 3.1 Pro.

The announcement blog post highlights that the Gemini 3.1 Pro benchmark for the ARC-AGI-2 test for solving abstract reasoning puzzles sits at 77.1%. This is noticeably higher than Gemini 3 Pro’s 31.1% score for the same test.

The ARC-AGI-2 benchmark is one of multiple improvements coming from Gemini 3.1 Pro, Google says.

3.1 Pro enhancements

With better benchmarks nearly across the board, Google highlighted some of the ways that translate in general use:

Code-based animations: The latest Gemini model can easily create animated SVG images that are scalable without quality loss and ready to be added to websites with a text prompt.

Creative coding: Gemini 3.1 Pro generated an entire website based on a character from Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, if she were a landscape photographer showing off her portfolio.

Interactive design: 3.1 Pro was used to create a 3D interactive starling murmuration that allows the flock to be controlled in an assortment of ways, all while a soundscape is generated that changes with the movement of the birds.

Availability

As of Thursday, Gemini 3.1 Pro is rolling out in the Gemini app for those with the AI Pro or Ultra plans. NotebookLM users subscribed to one of those plans will also be able to take advantage of the new model.

Both developers and enterprises can also access the new model via the Gemini API through a range of products, including AI Studio, Gemini Enterprise, Antigravity and Android Studio.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 20 #719

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Feb. 20, No. 719.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a bit tricky. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: True grit

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: You might find this in a wood shop.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

SAND, CART, SCAR, SCAT, PAPER, HAVE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

COARSE, HARSH, SCRATCHY, ROUGH, PRICKLY, ABRASIVE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SANDPAPER. To find it, start with the S that’s the farthest-left letter on the very top row, and wind down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 20, #515

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 20, No. 515.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a category all about my favorite football team. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: We’ll be right back…

Green group hint: Run for the roses.

Blue group hint: Skol!

Purple group hint: