New meteor shower might coincide with 2012 Geminids!...

Debris left behind by Comet Wirtanen might produce 30 meteors per hour, added to 100 meteors per hour from the Geminids. That would be an awesome meteor show!

We’ve had lots of reports of meteors this week, and most are probably part of the Geminid meteor shower, scheduled to peak late night December 13 to dawn December 14 for North American (evening December 14 to dawn December 15 for Asia). But NASA is saying there’s a second possible meteor shower that could significantly boost the number of meteors you’ll see. The source of the possible new shower is Comet 46P/Wirtanen. Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office says debris left in Wirtanen’s orbit might produce as many as 30 meteors per hour, added to the 100 meteors per hour from the Geminids. That would be an awesome meteor show!


Why do scientists think a new meteor shower might coincide with the Geminids? Meteors in annual showers stem from debris left behind by comets. The cometary debris in space moves in streams, which are called meteoroid streams. Russian meteor forecaster Mikhail Maslov used computer models to predict as many as four meteoroid stream crossings – in other words, four crossings of streams of debris left behind by Comet Wirtanen – between December 10 and 14, 2012. If Earth does encounter this debris from Wirtanen, as predicted by Mikhail Maslov, the debris will enter our atmosphere and vaporize due to friction with the air. We on Earth will see meteors, or shooting stars.


[link to earthsky.org]