Meteor Shower May 23-24

[Popster]

On the night of May 23-24, 2014 – if predictions hold true – Earth might be sandblasted with debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR, resulting in a fine new meteor shower!

 

[Popster]

from spaceweather:

IRONIC COMET LINEAR: On May 24th, the heavens could put on a display of irony. Forecasters say Earth will cross a stream of debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR, and the encounter could trigger a bright new meteor shower. The ironic thing is, the comet is so faint:

Aaron Kingery of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office took the picture on May 18th using a 0.5 meter telescope at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "209P is not a very photogenic comet," says Kingery. "This is the best I could do with a 60-second exposure."

How could such a dim comet produce a bright meteor shower? In 2014, 209P is producing very little dust. However, the debris Earth is about to encounter didn't come from 2014. It was shed by the comet mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries. In those days, forecasters hope, the comet was more active.

We will find out this weekend. If a magnificent meteor shower erupts on Saturday morning, it will be safe to say that the comet wasn't always so underwhelming. Get the full story and observing tips from Science@NASA.

 

[mudpuddle]

Hubby and I are getting up and am gonna make a "toast" to the meteor shower! Our daughter just got a "real" job!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bay_Kat]

Did I miss the link, read through the post and didn't see "the best time to watch".

 

[ZARA]

On the night of May 23-24, 2014 – if predictions hold true – Earth might be sandblasted with debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR, resulting in a fine new meteor shower!

Thanks for posting

Did I miss the link, read through the post and didn't see "the best time to watch".

How to watch - and 'listen' - to tonight's meteor shower
Meteors, dubbed the Camelopardalids for the constellation they appear to emanate from, may start appearing before midnight, with a peak in the wee hours of Saturday morning before daybreak, about 2-4 a.m.

Earth is expected to pass through a debris trail left behind a comet that was discovered in 2004 and named Comet 209P/LINEAR. The shower could mean 100 "shooting stars" per hour, or more. Some scientists have suggested rates of up to 400 meteors per hour.

But if you can't see them -- whether because of city lights, clouds, or because there is still uncertainty over how abundant they may be -- there are other ways to witness the shower.

According to Space.com, when meteors burn up in the atmosphere, they ionize air molecules that "can scatter and reflect radio waves, in much the same way that jet contrails scatter sunlight, leaving a glowing trail in the darkening sky after sunset."

...

Or else there will be several live webcasts of the shower from around the world, including from the Slooh telescope, the Virtual Telescope Project, and Space.com.

Slooh telescope
Virtual Telescope Project
Space.com

 

[Miker/t]

From SpaceWeather.com:

"Most models agree that peak rates should occur between the hours of 0600 UT and 0800 UT (2 a.m. and 4 a.m. EDT) on Saturday morning, May 24th, a time frame that favors observers in North America. It is worth noting, however, that Earth has never encountered this stream of debris before, so forecasters cannot be certain of their predictions."

 

[Bay_Kat]

Awesome, I plan to be up at 2am, will be sitting by the pool hopefully with a drink still in my hand.

 

[MMDad]

Did I miss the link, read through the post and didn't see "the best time to watch".

From what I've seen it appears that there won't be a "best" time other than after dark. They also don't know just how heavy it might be. Weather is the biggest factor.

 

[RPMDAD]

Probably not related but did see a good shooting star last night, while walking the dog at about 10:30.

 

[MMDad]

Probably not related but did see a good shooting star last night, while walking the dog at about 10:30.

Actually, they said that the nights leading up to tonight could have some activity. Probably is related, unless it was a flashback from your 70's days.

 

[Popster]

BTT they are saying it may turn into a "storm" Best time from 2-4. Just look up.

 

[SEABREEZE 1957]

I set my alarm. I'm awake now & ready for some action. It's a beautiful clear sky too.

 

[Popster]

Phiffle- I'm going to sleep.

 

[SEABREEZE 1957]

So far I've counted 24, 3 of them were pretty spectacular - the one at 2:42 AM was bright green, huge & traveled North to South. It was awesome

 

[NextJen]

We looked out from about 2:00-2:20am and saw one faint one. Not much of a show, so we went back to bed.

 

[SEABREEZE 1957]

We looked out from about 2:00-2:20am and saw one faint one. Not much of a show, so we went back to bed.

There definitely weren't 'thousands' per hour, but I thought it was worth it. The big green one at 2:42 AM, the other two worthwhile one's were at 3:12 AM & 3:32 AM. After that things pretty much stopped.

 

[NextJen]

There definitely weren't 'thousands' per hour, but I thought it was worth it. The big green one at 2:42 AM, the other two worthwhile one's were at 3:12 AM & 3:32 AM. After that things pretty much stopped.

I'm glad you got to see some. I just figured it was a bust after the 'possible thousands per hour' type of hype and then only seeing that faint one.

 

[MADPEBS1]

got nothing here in Dowell. was out from 2-220 , one faint one.

 

[mudpuddle]

Hubby and I laid out on our front lawn on and under blankets...the sky was perfect, stars shining bright and crystal clear! The temperature was perfect. We were out there from 2:00 to 3:00 and only saw 3. They were the best we ever saw, but we were terribly disappointed. :/

 

[OldHillcrestGuy]

I was up and went out around 2:15, stayed out for about 10 minutes and saw nothing, it was coldout there in pajama pants and t-shirt, so I came back in disappointed and cold. Im even more disappointed today cause it messed up my sleep and I had big plans to do several things outside around the house today. It sure is a awful nice day today, nice cool sunny and breezy, so Im just going to chill out and do nothing. Tomorrows another day. I have to admit the sky was really nice and clear last night with millions of stars shinning.