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Sunday, May 18, 2014

May Camelopardalids - A New Meteor Shower

A new meteor shower may be in the offing at the end of May. Predicted to peak the night of May 23 and early morning May 24, this new shower is the result of the earth's encountering the orbit of periodic comet 209P/LINEAR. 

While the US and Canada are in the best position to see the peak of the shower, it should be visible from anywhere in the northern hemisphere. As with all ephemeral astronomical events, we won't know for sure what it is like until it happens. The only way to know is go out and watch. Some astronomers are predicting a meteor storm, where over 1,000 meteors per hour could be seen. 

Meteor showers are named for the constellation from which they appear to radiate: the point in the sky where all of their trails would converge if drawn backwards. In our case, this is the ancient constellation Camelopardalis, located near the North Star, named for a mythical camel/leopard chimera. Today it is just called The Giraffe. You don't need to look at or even near the radiant to see shower members. They can appear anywhere in the sky. Just keep on lookin' up!

According to models the best time to observe the peak will be early in the morning of May 24, close to sunrise, but while it is still fully dark. Unfortunately for us, this is a Shabbat morning so we won't be doing any observing. But do let us know what you see if you are out for the event.



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