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

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for July 25 #509

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 25 No. 509.

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 mix of easy words to find and unscramble and one whopping long one. But if you know the theme, that word is easy to decipher. 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: Step to it!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Boogie shoes.

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:

HOGS, RICE, RICER, MUSE, CHAT, CHATS, GRAM, PANT, COAT, COATS, PARS, CARS, LASS, CLASS, CLASSY

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:

MUSIC, COSTUME, RECITAL, TEACHER, CHOREOGRAPHY

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is DANCECLASS. To find it, start with the D that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind up and over.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 25, #305

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 25, No. 305.

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 tested my breadth of sports knowledge. The blue category pays tribute to one of the greatest players of all time. See if you can figure it out. We’ve got hints and the answers in case you get stuck.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it 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: Rink-related.

Green group hint: The lower end of the Golden State.

Blue group hint: NFL G.O.A.T.

Purple group hint: You can also do this to your hair.