Virginia residents enjoyed watching a meteor shower Thursday that lit up the sky over Arlington and Loudoun Counties.
“The meteor was part of the Delta Aquariids meteor shower,” WUSA 9 reported, adding the shower is active from July 18 until late August, reaching its peak Friday.
The outlet shared video footage of the occurrence over a neighborhood that happened at approximately 2:00 a.m.
The meteor appeared to glow brighter as it fell from the sky, then became hidden behind some trees. In another clip, two people standing on a porch spotted the fiery orb.
Video footage from a dashboard camera also caught the moment it appeared in the dark sky:
Meanwhile, the Delta Aquariid was not the only shower happening, People reported Tuesday.
The Perseids began approximately two weeks ago and will reach peak on August 13, the outlet continued:
While the Perseids are known for their fireballs, the Aquariids are known for their persistent trains — meaning that they’ll leave glowing ionized trails of gas in their path, glistening for a few seconds in their wake.
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Regardless of your location, all stargazers are in luck because the moon will be in its new phase, so its glow won’t drown out the shower. Like all meteor showers, the Delta Aquariids are best viewed in a dark night sky. This is especially crucial for the Aquariids, as its appearance is infamously faint.
According to the NASA Science website, it is estimated that nearly 50 tons of meteoric material plunges to our planet on a daily basis.
“Almost all the material is vaporized in Earth’s atmosphere, leaving a bright trail fondly called ‘shooting stars,'” the site reads.
Multiple meteors each hour may be spotted at night, and when that number increases, it is described as a meteor shower:
Meteor showers occur annually or at regular intervals as the Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a comet. Meteor showers are usually named after a star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear in the sky. Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which peak in August every year. Every Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which swings by the Sun every 135 years.
Per the WUSA report, the Delta Aquariids might be seen again next month as the Perseids shower reaches its peak.
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