Rare Meteor Shower To Shed Light On Dangerous Comets

New Scientist ^ | 8-8-2007 | Stephen Battersby

[blam]

Rare meteor shower to shed light on dangerous comets

17:07 08 August 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Stephen Battersby

A rare meteor shower predicted to hit Earth on 1 September should give astronomers only their second chance to study an ancient comet's crust. It could also help them develop a warning system against an otherwise insidious threat – a comet aimed at Earth from the dark fringes of the solar system.

September's shower, called the alpha Aurigids, has only been seen three times before, in 1935, 1986 and 1994. The reason for this elusiveness is the shower's unusual origin.

Most meteor showers are caused by short-period comets, dirty iceballs that loop around the inner solar system on orbits lasting less than 200 years, shedding debris each time they approach the Sun's heat. This debris builds up into a broad band along the comet's orbit. Every year, when we pass through, it burns up in the atmosphere and appears as shooting stars.

The Aurigids come from a comet that takes 2000 years to orbit the Sun. With such infrequent visits, Comet Kiess can't build up a broad dust band; it only generates a narrow trail of debris each time.

The showers happen when Earth passes through one of these dust trails in particular, which was thrown off by the comet in 83 BC. "It is only a very narrow trail, and it is only once in a while that it crosses Earth's path," says Peter Jenniskens of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, US.

He thinks the gravity of Jupiter and Saturn controls the path of the dust trail, waving it around like a garden hose, occasionally aiming it at Earth. Along with his colleague Jérémie Vaubaillon at Caltech, US, Jenniskens has calculated that the hose should

[blam]

Ping.

[SueRae]

You’ve got to hand it to the astronomers and astrophysicists that can decipher this stuff. 83 B.C.? Amazing.

[hadaclueonce]

Someone “snope.com” this. Every summer.

[dragonblustar]

warning system against an otherwise insidious threat

[Ender Wiggin]

You thinking of the Perseids? This Sat-Sun is the peak.

[blam]

Alpha Aurigids

"This shower's duration seems to persist from August 25 to September 6. Maximum occurs from α=85°, δ=+41° on September 1 (λ=158°). The annual maximum ZHR may be as high as 9, but outbursts of over 30 occurred in 1935 and 1986."

[TheTruthAintPretty]

If the Muzzies quit trying to take over or destroy the world, we would have a LOT more resources to try and prevent a catastrophic collision.

But No! We gotta deal with Mo-Ham-Head’s minions.

[txhurl]

lol - right

[Las Vegas Dave]

Pings...

[SunkenCiv]

September's shower, called the alpha Aurigids, has only been seen three times before, in 1935, 1986 and 1994... The Aurigids come from a comet that takes 2000 years to orbit the Sun. With such infrequent visits, Comet Kiess can't build up a broad dust band; it only generates a narrow trail of debris each time. The showers happen when Earth passes through one of these dust trails in particular, which was thrown off by the comet in 83 BC.

Thanks Blam.

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[kalee]

ping

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.popastro.com/sections/meteor/showers-2007.htm

http://aurigid.seti.org/

http://aurigid.seti.org/MSLP.pdf

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1607979/posts?page=9#9

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American Meteor Society | American Meteor Society
Posted on 10/24/2001 2:10:57 AM EDT by VRWC_Member428
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/555234/posts

2000-Year-Old Meteors to Rain Down on August 31, 2007
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Posted on 08/24/2007 4:30:04 PM EDT by BenLurkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1886121/posts