Meteor alert! Meteor outburst Tuesday morning at 0430 EST. Hopefully for those enthusiasts out there the sky will clear a little. A little science for you today...... Outburst of meteors Tuesday morning, from a mysterious stream of cometary debris, known to have crossed paths with Earth only once before, in 1930. Forecasters Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute) and Esko Lyytinen (Helsinki, Finland) predict the return of the Gamma Delphinid meteor shower at around 0830 UT (04:30 am EDT) on June 11, 2013. The shower is expected to last no more than about 30 minutes to an hour, producing an unknown number of bright, fast meteors. A dark location will be best for observing the shower. The Gamma Delphinids have only been seen once before, in 1930. On June 11 of that year, members of the American Meteor Society reported observing a spate of meteor activity for a 30-minute period during the night. The comet that spawned this shower hasn’t been identified. It may be a long-period comet, with an orbit around the sun hundreds of years long. As comets sweep around the sun, they leave behind a thin trail of icy debris. When Earth encounters a stream of cometary debris in space, the debris enters our atmosphere and vaporizes due to friction with the air. We see the vaporizing, falling debris as meteors. Bottom line: The mysterious Gamma Delphinus meteor shower – not seen since 1930 – might create a meteor outburst Tuesday morning, June 11, 2013. ~T
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:06:14 +0000
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