New Meteor Shower Next Weekend Due to Comet 209P/LINEAR

I know a lot people are into comets and meteors on this forum so I thought I'd point you to this since I didn't see it posted elsewhere.

Want to witness something no human ever has before? You may get your chance to witness a brand new meteor shower!!!

There is a very good chance that next weekend will be a very active one in the night sky due to a brand new meteor shower which has come about as a result of the Earth passing through debris left over from Comet 209P/LINEAR back during the US Civil War.


From EarthSky:

And it’s coming up soon! It’s predicted for the night of May 23-24. This possible shower stems from Comet 209P/LINEAR, discovered in 2004. If the predictions hold true, Earth might be sandblasted with debris from this comet, resulting in a fine display of meteors, or shooting stars on the evening of May 23, and the morning of May 24. Mid-northern North American latitudes are favored. Follow the links below to learn more about the possible 2014 meteor shower of Comet 209P/LINEAR.

Because of the time predicted for the meteor display, observers in southern Canada and the continental U.S. are especially well positioned to see the meteors in the early morning hours of May 24 (or late at night on May 23). Will the predictions hold true? They are not always 100% reliable, which is why, no matter where you are on Earth, this shower is worth a try around the night of May 23-24.

The meteors will radiate from the constellation Camelopardalis (camelopard), a very obscure northern constellation. Its name is derived from early Rome, where it was thought of as a composite creature, described as having characteristics of both a camel and a leopard. Nowadays we call such a creature a giraffe! Since meteor in annual showers take their names from the constellation from which they appear to radiate – and since this meteor shower might become an annual event – people are already calling it the May Camelopardalids.

This constellation – radiant point of the May 2014 meteor shower – is in the northern sky, close to the north celestial pole, making this meteor shower better for the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere.

Much more on this here, including where, how and what time to watch for various locations in the northern hemisphere of the planet.

I will try to get some good video with my meteor camera. I'll be rushing to get it mounted up again (I took it down over the long winter here to upgrade it). If I do I'll post them here on ATS.

Hoping for clear night skies!

Here's a short video on all this from NASA, have a look

It says north American latitudes favored. Am I insane to ponder if this meteor shower could be used to "cloak" an attack on US soil? There would be so much going on in the upper atmosphere that by the time the ICBM got low enough to be detected as not a meteor, it would be too late to launch counter measures? I'm not fully aware of our counter measure ability's, or if the payload could get up into the upper atmosphere without us knowing, but the idea just popped into my head... lol

Anyways, I plan on watching for at least an hour if I can get a good view.

Whoop!

Cameras at the ready, tripod steady

I'll be out in the dark desert of Afghanistan next week so how will it look there?

originally posted by: andr3w68
It says north American latitudes favored. Am I insane to ponder if this meteor shower could be used to "cloak" an attack on US soil?

LOL! No.

NORAD's Early Warning Radars and satellites won't be cloaked by some meteoric dust and debris entering the atmosphere.

Also American latitudes are favored because it will be night here, while it will be day on the other side of the world when we pass through the dust.

a reply to: JadeStar

Booooo.....from South Australia!!!!

Ive been waiting for this for two year I remember I read about it in the same article I first read about comet Ison in 2012 I just hope this turns out a lot better than that whole fiasco did. Im in the out skirts of Tucson But i might go up to the mountains for this. Good watching every one

I'll get my catcher's mitt out and stand in an open field. Let 'er rip!

I've been following this. A chance of a meteor storm is something to be excited about.

I'm at about 28.5N and will be watching if the weather permits. Those further north may witness something amazing.

So, how does this work for the Satellites in orbit, by the way? If we're getting a storm (and I know it's not a certain thing....a crap shoot between rain and nothing) then all that would have crossed anything on our side of the planet in orbit first, right?

Could be an expensive few days, couldn't it?

originally posted by: Wrabbit2000
So, how does this work for the Satellites in orbit, by the way? If we're getting a storm (and I know it's not a certain thing....a crap shoot between rain and nothing) then all that would have crossed anything on our side of the planet in orbit first, right?

Could be an expensive few days, couldn't it?

Not really. It's just widely separated dust.

The odds of a satellite getting hit by anything larger than a micrometeoroid are about the same as you getting hit by one.

a reply to: JadeStar

Thanks for the quick response. I always appreciate the down to earth answers in this forum. (No pun intended..lol)

originally posted by: Xtrozero
I'll be out in the dark desert of Afghanistan next week so how will it look there?

It will be too dark for you to see it. If the sky is not lit by light from a city you'd be lucky to see a full moon if it was staring you in the face. So try to get somewhere near a really big city, which will light up the sky properly, like God and Mother Nature intended it when they divided up the work, so you can watch the meteor shower at its best.

SpaceWeather.com
Wow we are not the only ones passing through the stream or storm, our moon is too.

NEW METEOR SHOWER ON EARTH AND THE MOON: Anticipation is building as Earth approaches a cloud of debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR. This weekend, meteoroids hitting Earth's atmosphere could produce a never-before-seen shower called the "May Camelopardalids" peaking with as many as 200 meteors per hour. The best time to look is on Saturday, May 24th, between 0600 UT and 0800 UT (2 a.m. and 4 a.m. EDT).

Earth won't be the only body passing through the debris zone. The Moon will be, too. Meteoroids hitting the lunar surface could produce explosions visible through backyard telescopes on Earth. The inset in this picture of an actual lunar meteor shows the region of the crescent Moon on May 24th that could be pelted by May Camelopardalids:

According to NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, the best time for amateur astronomers to scan the Moon for lunar meteors is after 0800 UT (4 a.m. EDT) on May 24th.

There is much uncertainty about the strength of this shower, both on Earth and on the Moon. In recent history, our planet has never passed directly through a debris stream from Comet 209P/LINEAR, so no one knows exactly how much comet dust lies ahead. A magnificent meteor shower could erupt, with streaks of light in terrestrial skies and sparkling explosions on the Moon--or it could be a complete dud. Stay tuned!

Some Links:
1. Here is a site that you can watch the trajectories of objects entering the atmosphere
2. Here is the Meteor Scan site to watch meteors as they enter the atmosphere
3. Here is Earth's Busy Neighborhood to view objects that are recently discovered and their properties
4. Here is the American Meteor society of fireball reports if you have one to report or just want to view them
5. Here is the NASA All Sky Fireball Network with videos of the fireballs, their orbit diagrams, where they were captured and orbit properties

Should be very interesting, if it reaches STORM status...

Live coverage via Slooh

originally posted by: whatnext21
SpaceWeather.com
Wow we are not the only ones passing through the stream or storm, our moon is too.

That's because the moon orbits the Earth

And the swath of space this leftover cometary dust/debris is wider the moon's orbit. Not surprising really.

Thanks for posting those links.

Number 4, 5 and the Slooh link will be especially useful for people wanting to track this potential meteor storm. Star for you.

originally posted by: Aleister


It will be too dark for you to see it. If the sky is not lit by light from a city you'd be lucky to see a full moon if it was staring you in the face. So try to get somewhere near a really big city, which will light up the sky properly, like God and Mother Nature intended it when they divided up the work, so you can watch the meteor shower at its best.

I'll try and get right under a street light, that should do the trick to see it all.....

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Aleister


It will be too dark for you to see it. If the sky is not lit by light from a city you'd be lucky to see a full moon if it was staring you in the face. So try to get somewhere near a really big city, which will light up the sky properly, like God and Mother Nature intended it when they divided up the work, so you can watch the meteor shower at its best.

I'll try and get right under a street light, that should do the trick to see it all.....

He was trolling, you realise that? You need a dark sky to spot fainter meteors. City lights create "light pollution" which makes observing the night sky more difficult.

a reply to: wildespace

Trolling? Only if answering a question which has an obvious answer with a nonobvious answer is trolling. Momma didn't raise no troller, no sir. And if standing under a streetlight makes the meteors appear out of nowhere, who are you to judge? I'm taking my laser pens with me outside when I see them, so I can light them up, and write my name on them in light before they evaporate into solar system dust and glide to earth on the wind.

I'm looking forward to this

It's supposed to be clear skies tomorrow night and I can watch from the comforts of my back deck.

Hot chocolate and blankies are ready to go !

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Aleister


It will be too dark for you to see it. If the sky is not lit by light from a city you'd be lucky to see a full moon if it was staring you in the face. So try to get somewhere near a really big city, which will light up the sky properly, like God and Mother Nature intended it when they divided up the work, so you can watch the meteor shower at its best.

I'll try and get right under a street light, that should do the trick to see it all.....

He was trolling, you realise that? You need a dark sky to spot fainter meteors. City lights create "light pollution" which makes observing the night sky more difficult.

You realize that I'm not really going to stand under a street light to watch the show, right?