Meteor shower isn’t a thing to moon over

Meteors will streak across the night sky every four minutes in the early morning hours this weekend, but you probably won’t see them.

Blame the moon. It will be full. There’s not much humans can do about it, either.

Full moons are great for night hikes and for falling in love, but they tend to wipe out visibility of things like the annual Delta Aquariids meteor shower.

For meteor fans, it’s not only bad luck that the moon will be full, but worse luck that the Bay Area happens to be located in North America. That’s because other parts of the planet will experience a long lunar eclipse that will darken the sky and make the meteors shine bright. But North America is not in the path of the

eclipse.

If you look up at night — and if you can persuade the moon to go behind a cloud — you’ll see a white streak every few minutes. No one knows exactly where in the sky, or when. For meteor viewing, patience is required, along with a warm jacket.

This weekend is the peak of the Delta Aquariids shower, one of two dozen named annual meteor showers for which astronomers haul their telescopes out of the closet.

A meteor is a piece of debris, another word for junk. Most often a meteor is a bit of rock about the size of a grain of sand, shed by a comet. In the case of the Delta Aquariids shower, the comet doing the shedding goes by the name of Comet 96P/Machholz.

The Delta Aquariids shower lasts for six weeks, but this weekend is the time when the most meteors are scheduled by whoever does the scheduling. The best viewing is around 2 a.m., a time when people traditionally are otherwise occupied.

The Delta Aquariids meteor shower occurs each summer from midJuly to mid-August. When it ends, the Perseid meteor shower begins, sort of a celestial double feature.

The Perseid shower has the best reputation of all the showers, and it’s the kind of thing the Chabot Science and Space Center in the Oakland hills pulls out the stops for. (The Perseid overnight pajama party takes place on the Chabot deck on Aug. 12 — bring a sleeping bag and $85.)

Chabot astronomer Matt Potter said meteor fans generally prefer the Perseid shower to the Delta Aquariids shower, and this weekend’s full moon means most minds won’t be changed.

“Honestly, it will not be great, because of the moon,” he said. Through Monday, the poor meteors will be outgunned not only by the moon but by Mars. The Chabot deck will be open for a special Mars viewing session on Monday night, from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., when its proximity to Earth will make Mars especially bright. Proximity is a relative thing, however, as Mars will still be 34 million miles away. On Monday, the Mars viewing will cost $8, which includes unlimited hot chocolate along with whatever Delta Aquariids meteors happen to show up and crash the party.

“If you see a meteor on Monday, that will be a bonus,” Potter said.

Edward A. Ornelas / Hearst Newspapers The Delta Aqualiids meteor shower will be visible at times in the Bay Area this weekend, to the extent that the full moon will allow for visibility.