New meteor shower making late-night debut
There’s a new meteor shower in town and it might even turn into a full-fledged storm.
Late tonight, the planet will pass by debris from Comet 209P/Linear. The dusty debris is what creates the meteor shower. Scientists believe the shower could produce three, four or more — possibly a few hundred more — shooting stars per minute.
North American sky-gazers will have the best views. The shower should peak from around 11 tonight to 2 a.m. Pacific time Saturday.
Comet 209P/Linear was discovered in 2004. It will be about 7.6 million miles from Earth tonight. Next Tuesday, the comet will pass within 5 million miles.
The shower’s name is a mouthful: Camelopardalids (CA-mull-oh-PAR-duh-lids). It’s named after the giraffe constellation.
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Online:
NASA: http://tinyurl.com/q2kdqud
Slooh observatories: https://www.slooh.com/
