South Delta Aquarid or Perseids?

[pete5383]

Hey everyone. First off, I'm not very knowledgeable on astronomy, so forgive me if I say something that sounds dumb (I found this board because I'm an electrical engineer).

So I've heard that there is a meteor shower, south delta aquarid shower, that is going to peak in a week or so (July 28th I think), and I've also heard there's a better shower, Perseids, peaking on August 13th. I'd like to spend the night watching one of these showers, and I was wondering which would be the better to see? Someone told me that Perseids won't be as good because of the moon interference. Anyone have any advice on which will be the better show? Also, will the Perseids be good at like 11:00 PM (Central Time) on August 12th, or is the peak pretty narrow?

Also, this next question might be a little in depth, because I know almost no astronomy lingo, but is there any way to tell where in the sky the moon will be at a specific time (so I could tell how much interference there will be)? I guess I really don't even know what units are used to measure where something is in the sky (radians away from something, degree...something else I've never heard of)

Anyways, I guess what I really need to know is, if I can only see one shower, should it be the peak of south delta aquarids, or August 12th at 11:00 PM to see the Perseids? Thank you all very much, love the forum.

(Also, to the moderators, sorry if this is in the wrong section, feel free to move it as you please)

 

[pete5383]

Anyone have any advice for me? This astronomy business is tough...haha...

 

[hellfire]

I have always heard that the Perseids is the most visible meteor shower and I have enjoyed it very much in past years. But you are right that a bright moon may be an impediment. I have no better advice than to suggest you to take a look at:

http://www.heavens-above.com/

where you can display the sky-chart for your position at any day of the year. There you will see if the moon can be a problem for your observations.

 

[pete5383]

Thanks hellfire, that site helps out a lot, exactly what I was looking. Thanks again