New meteor shower could turn into a meteor storm

[struggle4progress]

A never-before-seen meteor shower is set to light up the night sky May 23.

... It's called the Camelopardalid meteor shower, and unlike annual showers such as the Perseids and Leonids that have been occurring for hundreds or thousands of years, it will occur for the first time the night of May 23 and early morning of May 24 ...

The Camelopardalids will be debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR, a very dim comet that orbits the sun every five years. The comet was discovered in 2004 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project ...

Meteor showers are named for the constellation from which the meteors seem to radiate. That point is known as the radiant, and radiant for the Camelopardalids will be the constellation Camelopardalis (the giraffe).

Camelopardalis is a circumpolar constellation, which means that, rather than moving from east to west across the night sky, it goes around Polaris, the North Star, so it's up all night ...

[bvar22]

1. I'll be watching!

I hope the sky is clear.
It should be a dark moon.

One of the reasons we moved from the Big City to The Woods in 2006
was so that we could see the stars again.
We haven't been disappointed.

[tclambert]

2. Oh, and the sky is supposed to be clear around here (Michigan).

Usually, any interesting astronomical event guarantees we'll have cloudy skies here.

[Earth_First]

3. Can't wait!

We've had this on out schedule for weeks now.

Now only if the weather cooperates, we'll be all set...

Happy Viewing!

[sakabatou]

4. Damned light pollution in my area >.<

[bananas]

5. American Meteor Society is already getting fireball videos

which is a good sign: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024970619

[BlancheSplanchnik]

6. Woa!! Remind me to put that in my calendar!

Coool!!

[progressoid]

7. Ooooh, thanks for the reminder.

I'm hoping for clear skies!

[elleng]

8. 'The meteor shower will be easier to view in the South,

says Carol Stewart, astronomer at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in Fort Myers, Fla.

"In Southwest Florida, we have an advantage over Northern latitudes because the meteors will come in at us from a lower altitude," she said. "Those are called 'Earth-grazers,' and they're longer-lasting and run farther across the sky."'

[freshwest]

9. Not Aphophis? Returning to my Nirvana-like state of total disinterest...

But I'll still try to find a place with less city lights, if it's not raining again.

Nice pic at the link:



Thanks for the information.

[Javaman]

10. queue the right wing moron du jour to claim this is because...

fill in your favorite anti-science, anti-human, anti-anything screed.

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Day of the triffids

[In_The_Wind]

12. *note to self* check the weather and set the alarm clock if conditions are good!