[ad_1]
This week, special celestial spots will cascade to Earth as part of a meteor shower that has never rained on the planet before.
Another meteor shower started erupting last week and astronomers expect its main peak to occur in the coming days. The event takes place in the southernmost regions of the Earth’s southern hemisphere. Radar instruments from New Zealand, Argentina and Chile are therefore best placed to detect these faint but extraordinary “shooting stars”.
Meteor showers typically occur every year, illuminating the night sky around the same time each year as Earth passes through the field of debris left by a comet or asteroid. The debris field from Comet 15P / Finlay, however, has not intersected Earth on its journey around the sun so far. This is in part due to the small size of the debris and how the solar wind that emanates from the sun can disrupt the location of this path in the solar system.
Related: How to see the best meteor showers of 2021
Initially, the meteor shower was nicknamed by some the “Finlay-ids” after its parent comet. New confirmed sightings show that meteors emanate from the southern constellation Ara, leading to a new name: the “Arids”. It was recently added to the International Astronomical Union’s meteor shower work list, according to an Oct. 1 report from Harvard University’s Central Astronomical Telegram Office.
Just as astrophysicist Diego Janches and his colleagues predicted earlier this year, the meteor shower made its appearance in late September and will peak around Thursday (October 7). The ongoing explosion was detected by the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) networks in New Zealand and Chile on September 28 and 29. the shower on September 29 and reported that it lasted about three hours.
“Further meteor shower activity from this comet is expected in the coming weeks,” the report added. “A second explosion from the crossing of the ejected debris in 2008 is expected to be centered on October 7, 2021. [at] 00h35m UT [8:35 p.m. EDT], followed by a third explosion of ejected debris in 2014 centered on October 7, 2021 [at] 03h55m UT [11:55 p.m. EDT]. “
The shower was placed on the IAU Meteor Shower Worklist under number 1130 and code “ARD”. The arid shower has never been seen before, but the event was predicted by astronomers retracing the evolution of meteorites ejected by comet 15P / Finlay …October 1, 2021
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute tweeted about the event last Thursday (September 30).
“The arid shower has never been seen before, but the event has been predicted by astronomers retracing the evolution of meteorites ejected by comet 15P / Finlay … when it returned to the inner solar system in 1995,” said shared the SETI Institute in the Twitter thread. “The stream of particles ejected that year evolved into and out of Earth’s orbit until Earth was supposed to pass through that stream 26 years later.”
When these sand-sized comet shavings hit the planet’s upper atmosphere, they will move at a slow speed of 6.7 miles per second (10.8 km / s), so it will be a downpour that is difficult to observe. But if the telegraphic report is any indication, astronomers have been able to successfully collect impressions of the rare event from around the world.
Although this new meteor shower is only visible from the southern hemisphere, sky watchers in the northern hemisphere may also be lucky enough to spot “shooting stars” from another meteor shower this week. The annual draconid meteor shower peaks around the same time as the arid ones, with peak activity expected on the morning of October 8. Ideally, the October 6 new moon will provide a dark sky to help maximize your chances of spotting a meteor in the night sky.
Follow Doris Elin Urrutia on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link