Newfound Meteor Shower May Spawn Meteor Storm in 2014

Space.com

While the Orionid meteor shower from Halley's Comet has our full attention this weekend, recent calculations made by meteor experts suggest there's a far-greater celestial fireworks display coming to in 2014. In May 2014 there appears to be a reasonably good chance that a new, and very significant meteor shower, will take place. At the moment, conservative forecasts suggest anywhere from 100 to 400 meteors per hour may be seen, but the actual rate could peak much higher and potentially reach "meteor storm" levels (1,000 per hour!).

What is the cause this meteor storm?

The progenitor of this possible display is comet 209P/LINEAR, a periodic comet discovered on Feb. 3, 2004, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project (LINEAR) using a 1-meter (39 inches) reflector telescope. The comet was given the permanent number 209P on Dec. 12, 2008. As comet’s go, 209P/LINEAR is small and intrinsically dim. It completes one trip around of the sun in about five years. The comet's aphelion distance (farthest point from the sun) extends out near the orbit of Jupiter and its orbit has been perturbed several times by the giant planet's gravitational pull over the past 200 years.

I love a good meteor shower. I already have my campsite set up and looking forward to this weekends Orionid shower. But a "meteor storm"? Now that sounds like something I want to see! Can you imagine the awesome sight of 1,000 meteors an hour streaking across the sky?

Mark May 24, 2014 on your calenders my fellow ATSer's. This is something you don't want to miss!

Wow. Really? Am I the only one that finds this interesting enough to make a comment on?

It will be pretty cool if the shower itself lives up to expectations. Have to wait and see.. meanwhile, I'm going to go and see if I can see any from the orionoids... Spotted a few last night and also spotted a strange flashing light at the bottom of Orion. Maybe meteors but it was strange.

Originally posted by mikemck1976
Wow. Really? Am I the only one that finds this interesting enough to make a comment on?

I'm not sure why people don't seem to be responding, but there was another thread made about this same subject shower a couple of weeks ago (that one only got a handful of response, also):

www.abovetopsecret.com...

S&F for this thread, though, seeing the other one died (maybe this will resurrect interest -- or maybe 2014 is just too far off for people to care yet).

I remember the big meteor in storm of 2001 (or 2002?). It was quite the site to see, with a many bright meteors whizzing through the sky -- sometimes only 4 or 5 seconds apart. My daughter was only 6 years old at the time, but she says she still remembers being in our back yard with me, watching the meteors.

Originally posted by mikemck1976
Wow. Really? Am I the only one that finds this interesting enough to make a comment on?

I had not heard of this, so thanks for the heads-up.

I'm hoping tonight's skies will be clear here in Eastern Ohio since I have a good dark sky. If the world is still here after December 21st, then the next couple of years should be fun, with the new found comets and all.....

Happy hunting tonight - eyes to the skies,,,,,

I wonder if it would look anything like the movie, The Day Of The Triffids. Now that would be cool, but remember not to look at them, ha ha. Thanks for the info. I'll be looking forward to this, thanx.. S & F

Can you imagine what that'll look like. . .

Putting this on my to do list for 2014

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
I remember the big meteor in storm of 2001 (or 2002?). It was quite the site to see, with a many bright meteors whizzing through the sky -- sometimes only 4 or 5 seconds apart.

It was November 18/19 2001. I was lucky enough to observe the peak of the storm which was only visible from Australia and Eastern Asia. At times during the peak there were bursts of 4-6 Leonids per second, as well as lots of fireballs, and some of the most amazing earth grazing meteors I have ever seen.

Here's a nice long green Leonid grazer that I photographed that night

Wow, can you imagine watching 400-1000 meteors per hour whizzing by ?!

I hope this puppy comes to fruition and that I'm not clouded over for a change. Just imagine all the great footage people would capture on video and photos.

Cross our fingers for a great show of cosmic glory !

Thanks for the post OP.

reply to post by mikemck1976

Are they able at this point to know a percentage of how many of these will actually hit the earth?

Wow, I sure hope it lives up to expectations! 400 or 1000 per hour, either one is a lot of astronomical bang for your viewing time buck there

Originally posted by crappiekat
Are they able at this point to know a percentage of how many of these will actually hit the earth?

None will "hit the Earth".

Meteoroids ejected from comets are generally very small (mainly dust to sand grain sized though some may be a bit larger), but more importantly they are made of extremely fragile material which easily "burns up" high in the atmosphere - usually 80-100 km altitude.

reply to post by FireballStorm


Thank you for your reply. I've just learned something new today.

I know when I think of meteror shower, I'm thinking bigger pieces.

How big would a piece have to be, NOT to burn up and hit the earth?

reply to post by crappiekat


You're welcome.

There are quite a few factors involved which will influence if something makes it to the ground, and also how fast it's going when it hits the ground, including size, composition, angle of entry, and speed.

In most cases, large objects that enter the atmosphere usually break up at high altitude, and since small fragments don't keep their momentum, anything that does survive is slowed down by air resistance and will reach the ground traveling at free-fall velocity (9 m/s squared).

In order to reach the ground traveling at enough speed to make a crater, an object would have to be very large (or large and very dense ie iron-nickel - but there are fairly rare) - perhaps 10-15 m across. Objects this size hit us perhaps once or twice a decade.

At around 30-50 m, you are looking at significant localized damage on the ground. The object that caused the Tunguska blast was thought to be around 50m, and objects of this size hit on average once every 100 years or so.

Check out The American Meteor Society Fireball FAQs, especially answer #12

This on-line impact calculator is fun to play around with and try out various scenarios.

reply to post by FireballStorm

Thank you for your answer and the links. You have answered my questions in a way I can understand. And My peak of interest is high. I will most definitly look at the links and study and learn.

Thank you. Hoping someone else comes along and asks some questions so I can learn some more.