Possible New Meteor Shower May 24th…Will it Sizzle or Fizzle?

Mel Blake

FLORENCE-Astronomers are predicting a possible new meteor shower for the night of May 23^rd/24^th.  Meteor showers occur when the Earth enters a region of space where material has been left behind by a comet.  Most comets spend most of their time away from the Sun. When they get close to the Sun the heat causes dust and gas to be ejected from the comet, giving them their famous tails.  The Earth can encounter the clouds of dust and the material hits the atmosphere at high speed and burns up. This causes a meteor or shooting star.  Most meteor showers reoccur on a regular basis, but the number of meteors any given year can be difficult to predict.  The astronomers are predicting that a new shower might occur the night of May 23^rd/24^th. Peter Janniskens of NASA Ames and SETI, who first realized this possibility and Esko Lyytinen in Finland, an expert at predicting meteor showers, used models of the solar system to calculate the effect of the gravity of the planets on the debris left behind by the comet 209P/LINEAR.  The comet has an orbital period of about 5.1 years that takes it out to the orbit of Jupiter and inwards to near the orbit of the Earth.  The calculations predict that gravity of the planets may have changed the orbits of the dust given off by the comet between 1803 and 1924 in such a way that the Earth will pass into the dust on the morning of May 24th.   It is difficult to know how many meteors will be seen because we do not know much about the amount of material given off by the comet in the years between 1803 and 1924.  Some optimistic predictions are calling for thousands of meteors per hour.  However, more conservative estimates are for 200 meteors per hour, which would still make it a very active shower rivalling the famous Perseids in August and the Geminids in December.   The meteors will appear to come from the north in the constellation of Camelopardalis. The best time to view the meteors should about 2 – 3AM CDT but the shower should last several hours before and after peak time.  To view the meteors, let your eye drift approximately vertically all over the north part of the sky. Try not to stare at any one spot because the meteors will come from random spots.  You do not need any special equipment to view a meteor shower.   UNA planetarium will not be hosting and observing night for this because the meteors are best viewed out of the city away from the light pollution caused by street lights.