{"id":7891,"date":"2014-05-23T10:14:19","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T14:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7891"},"modified":"2014-05-23T10:14:48","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T14:14:48","slug":"meteor-shower-expected-to-light-up-the-sky-tonight-over-north-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7891","title":{"rendered":"Meteor shower expected to light up the sky tonight over North America"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a good chance, but no guarantee, of a strong meteor shower tonight over North America. The\u00a0May Camelopardalids\u00a0come from the dust debris trail of the\u00a0periodic comet 209P\/LINEAR,\u00a0a\u00a0little known and not very bright\u00a0comet discovered in 2004\u00a0that\u00a0orbits the sun every 5.1 years. According to Sky & Telescope:<\/p>\n

What’s got dynamicists excited, however, is that Earth might might plow right through relatively dense strands of debris shed by the comet long ago. This should create a\u00a0strong burst of “shooting stars” on May 24th.<\/em><\/p>\n

Several predictions suggest you might see anywhere from 100 to 200 meteors per hour from a dark location free of light pollution. That means you could perhaps see one or two meteors\u00a0per minute. Some (but not all) dynamicists think there’s even an outside chance that the celestial spectacle could briefly become a meteor “storm,” with more than 1,000 arriving per hour! (But it’s also possible that the display might be weak, with just a few dozen meteors visible per hour even in a dark sky.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The meteor shower\u00a0should peak around 3 am EDT. If you don’t have a clear sky, you can watch online at Slooh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More at:<\/p>\n