"Special event" in May

[mountainmadman]

Evening everyone,

as I return to the keyboard for another enforced indoor astro session thanks to the apocalyptic weather we seem to be having, I find myself wondering what the new year will bring.

This year,    brought me the Philips Stargazing 2014 yearbook.  For people who are unfamiliar with this publication, it breaks the forthcoming year down into month by month sections and gives you target, highlights and tips for each month.  Plenty to look forward to if these skies ever clear up.

Turning to May, and under the Special Events section it notes that on the 23/24 May there could be a possible storm of meteors.  Apparently possibly up to 1000 per hour!  They come as a result of the Earths orbit crossing the former path of comet Linear.  It's just got me thinking if anyone else knows anything more about this?  I mean, the recent good showers are usually 100 - 200 per hour.  1000 an hour would be akin to an outdoor disco complete with an intergalactic glitter ball!

Do I get excitied or not....?

Cheers!
Tony

 

[Astralstroll]

Fingers crossed the predictions are correct. Might make up for some previous predictions that were a little on the optimistic side.

[JB80]

Here are a couple of links suggesting there maybe something to look for but nobody seems certain.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.0235

http://earthsky.org/space/comet-209p-linear-meteor-shower-storm-may-2014

http://feraj.narod.ru/Radiants/Predictions/209p-ids2014eng.html

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Always difficult to predict but we can always hope for the best

[Pete Presland]

Hmmm probably best to pretend you dont know about it, this time last year we were all looking forward to "the comet of the century"

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[callisto]

We can live in hope

[bogdog]

just hope for a prediction of a spell of clear weather!

[stolenfeather]

Wow!  That is indeed a huge meteor shower!  The Philips Stargazing 2014 yearbook..  I need to get my hands on that!  Thank you for making me aware of it.

Isabelle

[Solar_observer]

Think I need to book that night off work, just in case :-)

Clear skies to you all :-)

[bartyboy73]

Does anyone know how this is looking? Are we still on for a storm?

[Rhys Hardwick]

I haven't heard anything at all, including in the magazines. Would have thought they would have covered it

[Owmuchonomy]

Does anyone know how this is looking? Are we still on for a storm?

I read that it peaks during daytime UK!

[DaveGarland]

Yeah there's a bit on it in this month's Sky at Night magazine that says that. It might be worth keeping an eye out for though.

[michaelmorris]

From my understanding, because this is a relatively newly-formed meteroid stream, it is likely to be tightly packed and hence the peak is likely to be short-lived.  Unfortunately for us in the Britain, the peak is due to occur over the USA.

[hobsey]

Unfortunately for us in the Britain, the peak is due to occur over the USA.

Just like every other special event that happens.

They happen all over the world other than over the UK.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

I can imagine it now.1000 meteors per hour. Everone blinded.   Then THE TRIFFIDS escape!!!

[Pete Presland]

it maybe worth looking before dawn on the morning 24th according to astronomy now, if its clear i will give it a go. any excuse to be out of the house! 

[peteradams]

An online source places the radiant at RA 08h 16m // Dec +79 (almost 1/2 way between Polaris and Muscida). It said there's a narrow window on this shower but at least it's a moonless night. If it's clear I'll get out and watch it. If it pops, that'll be great - if not, meh....

[Paul M]

It turns out that I'm working a night shift on the night of the 23rd/24th and usually get plenty of opportunities to go outside.

Without doubt the intensity of the shower (won't call it a storm!) will be directly proportional to the density of cloud cover !!

[ronin]

From the bits I have read it appears to be getting reported as 24/25th.

And as it is new I suppose that even these are a bit of guesswork, probably worth keeping an eye out for 23/24, 24/25 and 25/26. Bit like the weather: All dates will have a disclaimer attached and are probabilities only. :grin:

The debris could be a few million miles closer or further away.

[mjpfc]

The problem may well end up being the newness of it as it could be tight and short lived through the middle of the day (24th)

and has been said, over the USA.

Many of the bits may be very insubstancial, and therefore hard to see from other than dark skies so I guess the average could

be a couple of hundred visible per hour (zhr) in the sticks.

UK, well we will jus have to look nmearly bdoors on the 23rd, 24th and evening tom midnight 25th and see what we get.

As Ronin says there could be a big difference in the range of the debris across our orbit.

The real threat for the UK though remains the same ............ seeing the sky is the big ask before we worry about what to see in it.

I sound pessimistic but I'll be out there with the deck chair.

The good thing about meteor watching is that the rain does'nt fill up your newtonian.

Mick.

[JB80]

The problem may well end up being the newness of it as it could be tight and short lived through the middle of the day (24th)

and has been said, over the USA.

Many of the bits may be very insubstancial, and therefore hard to see from other than dark skies so I guess the average could

be a couple of hundred visible per hour (zhr) in the sticks.

UK, well we will jus have to look nmearly bdoors on the 23rd, 24th and evening tom midnight 25th and see what we get.

As Ronin says there could be a big difference in the range of the debris across our orbit.

The real threat for the UK though remains the same ............ seeing the sky is the big ask before we worry about what to see in it.

I sound pessimistic but I'll be out there with the deck chair.

The good thing about meteor watching is that the rain does'nt fill up your newtonian.

Mick.

Well I certainly think it is a good idea to be out on the off chance and even seeing a handful would be fine by me, it's not hard to fit in a bit of widefield with the camera or look at the planets to help pass the night away.

There seems enough mention of uncertainty to make it worth while and I really do hope they have the time wrong.

Biggest problem for me is unless something amazing is happening I'm likely to fall asleep come 3am.

Maybe remember to freshen up the batteries and leave the camera rolling at that point.

[SarasotaSean]

I am optomistic that it will occur.  1000 / hr = 1 meteor every 3.6 seconds.... yowza!

Our local club will be at the dark site on a scheduled observation night here in Florida...   

And we may realize that it's another one of those wishful predictions as we swat mosquitos every 3.6 seconds until the wee hours.

[JB80]

This has crept up on us, I need to come up with a plan of attack. The weather forecast looks variable for now, well as variable as it can be around these parts.

Is there an alert somewhere that we can set up that will send a message or something to my phone if things start kicking off earlier than anticipated?

[JB80]

Here is a good link to a meteor detector http://www.meteorscan.com/meteor-live.html and there is also http://spaceweatherradio.com/ where you can listing to the pings.

Both seem to be showing activity at the moment, more so than the normal background anyway.