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Will We Be Peppered This Weekend? NASA Say’s Big Particles Coming #CometLinear Weekend Meteor Shower Will Pelt the Moon Too! (Video)
NASA Say’s Big Particles Coming: Weekend Meteor Shower Will Pelt the Moon Too!
May 21 2014
Apparently we don’t need telescopes for the meteor storm coming the 24th. But …
If the hoped-for meteor blast materializes this Friday night / Saturday morning (May 23-24) Earth won’t be the only world getting peppered with debris strewn by comet 209P/LINEAR. The moon will zoom through the comet’s dusty filaments in tandem with us. Bill Cooke, lead for NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, alerts skywatchers to the possibility of lunar meteorite impacts starting around 9:30 p.m. CDT Friday night through 6 a.m. CDT (2:30-11 UTC) Saturday morning with apeak around 1-3 a.m. CDT (6-8 UTC).
While western hemisphere observers will be in the best location, these times indicate that European and African skywatchers might also get a taste of the action around the start of the lunar shower. And while South America is too far south for viewing the Earth-directed Camelopardalids, the moon will be in a good position to have a go at lunar meteor hunting. Find your moonrise time HERE.
The thick crescent moon will be well-placed around peak viewing time for East Coast skywatchers, shining above Venus in the eastern sky near the start of morning twilight. For the Midwest, the moon will just be rising at that hour, while skywatchers living in the western half of the country will have to wait until after maximum for a look:
“Anyone in the U.S. should monitor the moon until dawn,” said Cooke, who estimates that impacts might shine briefly at magnitude +8-9.
Are you prepared?
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I wish we were allowed to use bad language here because the air would turn blue with my views about unscientific religious remarks on this board. Based on worthless illogical hearsay of a particular religion posted as fact, however well intended.