Its something old creating something new: On late Friday night into Saturday morning, North America will likely see a brand new meteor shower called the Camelopardalids with a compelling chance that these gentle shooting stars could become a torrential meteor storm and provide quite a light show.
These new meteors are dusty remnants of Comet209P/LINEAR, discovered in 2004.
The general consensus is that this weeks Camelopardalids will be comparable to a very good Perseid meteor shower with an added possibility of a storm, says Geoff Chester, astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Im planning to be out watching.
With clear skies, sky gazers may see meteor activity late Friday night at about 10:30 p.m. according to Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Astronomers predict the peak will occur from 2 to 4 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, on Saturday morning, but Cooke believes gazers can catch shooting stars all the way through dawn, when the sunrise washes them out.
The best way to spot shooting stars: Just look up, says Chester. Its that simple. The meteors can be seen in all parts of the sky. The showers radiant looms in the northern sky close to Polaris, the North Star. Specifically, the meteor will appear to emanate from the constellation Camelopardalis, the giraffe. Chester suggests finding coffee, patience and looking toward the dome of the heavens.
For this brand new, never-before-seen shower, astronomers are predicting from 30 to perhaps hundreds of meteors an hour at peak. Likely, these meteors will be a plodding 12 miles per second. In contrast, Perseid meteors (August) scoot along at 25 miles per second and the Leonid meteors (November) zip through our heavens at 45 miles per second. Slow meteors mean they will look like a bright star falling, says Chester.
Meteors occur when the Earth strikes the leftover dusty trail from comets flown-by long ago. These trails contain sand-size particles and when Earths atmosphere meets these flecks, they light up and vaporize creating beautiful streaks.
For the Camelopardalids, its parent Comet 209P/LINEAR was discovered in 2004 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research telescope hence LINEAR run by MITs Lincoln Laboratory. The telescope is located in Socorro, New Mexico and funded by the United States Air Force and NASA. Its a serious mission to find asteroids that threaten to hit the Earth.
Cooke explained that astronomers calculated Comet 209P/LINEARs orbit and found that it returns about every five years in an orbit between the sun and Jupiter. Astronomers have traced it back to 1703. We dont know what the meteor showers intensity will be, he says. If Comet 209P/LINEAR was a poor producer of debris, well see nothing. But if the comet was more active 200 or 300 years ago, well see a decent show. What happens this Saturday morning was determined a few hundred years ago.
On Comet 209P/LINEARs current orbit, the comet passed the sun (perihelion) on May 6 and it will pass within about 5 million miles of Earth on May 29 at a substantially dim 11th magnitude, beyond the visible range of the human eye. It will be a telescopic object.
Why hasnt the Earth run into these meteors before? Cooke explains that thanks to the planet Jupiters gravitational pull, the comets debris trail is intersecting the Earths orbit for the first time.
Cooke says there are new meteor showers found fairly often, but with falling star rates so low that even an experienced observer would not notice them. New showers with rates of tens or hundreds per hour are very rare, he says.
The Naval Observatorys Chester explains that photographers with a digital SLR camera can capture the shooting star glory. On a tripod, aim the SLR to the northern sky, above Polaris. Use a wide-angle lens, set the ISO to its highest rating. Set the shutter for a long exposure.
The best part of this kind of cosmic light show is no experience is needed, only the willingness to step outside. You dont have to be an expert to enjoy the meteor shower, says Greg Redfern, an astronomer with the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club. This shower favors North America the one time when we luck out. Were in a primetime burst window.
Facebook
Twitter