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New meteor shower could turn into a meteor storm

danarhea

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The Camelopardalids meteor shower this Friday is going to be one of those events that happens only once in hundreds of years. Hundreds of meteors will be raining down on Earth every hour.... Don't worry, we are in no danger. These are small chunks, which will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, and will give us a spectacular show. The main body of the comet already passed us, and we will just be passing through the comet's tail. This show is brought to you by the planet Jupiter, which nudged the comet on a trajectory towards Earth. Enjoy the show. :)

Article is here.
 
We are planning a party.....I just hope no big chunks (I mean really big) broke off this thing.
 
We are planning a party.....I just hope no big chunks (I mean really big) broke off this thing.

Night of the Comet, one of my favorite 80s classics.

Night of the Comet (1984) - IMDb

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It is a very small comet, that was discovered via sattelite. This meteor shower isn't from it's recent pass by earth, but from an old one when the comet was, hopefully, much larger. The constellation from which the meteorites will stream from is a pretty hard to find one, dim and obscure, but thankfully, it is very near Polaris, so an easy find. I may go out to the desert to watch, and set up my scope (note, a telescope is worthless in a meteor shower), but if it is a good dark sky, there are plenty of other things to look at and maybe photograph.
 
It is a very small comet, that was discovered via sattelite. This meteor shower isn't from it's recent pass by earth, but from an old one when the comet was, hopefully, much larger. The constellation from which the meteorites will stream from is a pretty hard to find one, dim and obscure, but thankfully, it is very near Polaris, so an easy find. I may go out to the desert to watch, and set up my scope (note, a telescope is worthless in a meteor shower), but if it is a good dark sky, there are plenty of other things to look at and maybe photograph.

The show will be from when the comet passed by earth in the 1800s. Someone please splain?
 
The show will be from when the comet passed by earth in the 1800s. Someone please splain?

Easy. When comets near the sun, they shed particles, mostly ice, but some dust. Each time a comet crosses the plane of the earth, it may be from any direction as they head towards the sun. As they pass that plane, they leave the particles behind, which then orbit the earth. And when the earth enters near where these particles are, they are drawn in by the earth's gravity. Most meteors in a meteor shower are very tiny, grain of rice size, but because they are going so fast and burn up, we can see them. If they are bigger, you can see an ionized gas trail behind them. In fact, ham radio operators can communicate by bouncing a signal off these gas trails.
 
Easy. When comets near the sun, they shed particles, mostly ice, but some dust. Each time a comet crosses the plane of the earth, it may be from any direction as they head towards the sun. As they pass that plane, they leave the particles behind, which then orbit the earth. And when the earth enters near where these particles are, they are drawn in by the earth's gravity. Most meteors in a meteor shower are very tiny, grain of rice size, but because they are going so fast and burn up, we can see them. If they are bigger, you can see an ionized gas trail behind them. In fact, ham radio operators can communicate by bouncing a signal off these gas trails.

Good explanation. Thanks Captain!
 
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