Cayman may be treated to spectacular meteor storm
(CNS): Stargazers in the Cayman Islands might, or might not, be treated to the greatest meteor storm of our lifetimes on Monday night, 30 May, the Cayman Islands Astronomical Society (CIAS) has said. If it happens it will be around midnight, when we could see as many as 1,000 meteors within half an hour, as the Earth passes through the debris of an actively disintegrating comet. But the show is elusive since astronomers don’t know exactly where the debris cloud from this comet is.
The comet, known as 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann or SW3, was discovered in 1930 by German observers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachman. According to NASA, it wasn’t spotted again until the late 1970s, but in 1995 it broke into large fragments. By the time SW3 passed Earth again in 2006, it was in nearly 70 pieces and has continued to fragment ever since
But the disintegration of comets is hard to predict so, as the CIAS said in a social media post, “It may be all or nothing, but certainly worth a shot!”
There will be a new moon tonight, so if the meteor shower is visible, the night sky will be dark and the shooting stars will be easier to see. However, as well as the constant light pollution, the view could still be obscured as the forecast calls for as much as 80% cloud cover.
Nevertheless, even if there is just a slight chance of seeing what astronomers say will be an incredible show, it may be worth staying up late for.
See the CIAS video about the possible meteor shower below:
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Category: Science & Nature, Space
The much hyped meteor “storm” was not even a drizzle according to the video I’ve scanned through. I scanned and caught a few streaks but it was pretty lame overall…yawn. However, there was one object that was really interesting! It came into view out of nowhere. It was at about 4:24:18. It started as a point of light that popped into view looking like a science fiction scene of a starship popping out of warp. The point appears in the dark sky in the top right frame, about half way up the right edge of the frame. Perhaps one of you astronomy aficionados can tell us what you think it is. I looked through lots of sky watcher sites and astronomy pages that have earth views of satellites, and even took a cropped screen shot and did a Yandex reverse image search, but I cannot not find anything that remotely resembles the object. The link below comes in just a bit before the object pops into view. That whole video is the best out there of the meteor “storm”. You can go back to the beginning and scan through and you might catch a few meteor streaks if you are lucky. I saw many more satellites than meteors traversing the screen. One can be seen at about 4:33:40.
Here is the link to the meteor “storm” video that comes in just as the strange object pops into view:
https://youtu.be/amKiVLUZxVw?t=15858
Maybe someone here can tell us what it is. On the Emerald Hill Skies site the guy who made the video says it is a plane but I have seen many a plane while observing the night skies through my telescope and binoculars and have never seen any plane looking like that.
Facing the South, where it was clearest (with little to no cloud coverage), and saw a predominantly white (with tints of yellow-orange) for about two seconds falling downward to the Southeast. Did not, however, see over or around 1,000 meteors.
Don’t see anything at all. It would have been nice if the local Astronomucal society or whatever they’re called updated their FB during the event telling us whether the event was a go or not … being bitten by mozzies losing sleep over nothing isn’t fun!
I didn’t think I would see anything after awhile and it was just 2 or 3 seconds. Neat all the same.
The end is nigh.
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:36 and 42).
Live each day like it’s your last. I’m going to try to see if these meteors are visible. Midnight is past my bedtime, but I can make an exception for this.
God bless,
Orrie 🙏🏻🇰🇾 ☄️
“Each night I go to bed
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
No, I ain’t looking for forgiveness
But before I’m six-foot deep
Lord, I gotta ask a favor
And I’ll hope you’ll understand
‘Cause I’ve lived life to the fullest
Let this boy die like a man
Staring down a bullet
Let me make my final stand”
(Bon Jovi – Blaze of Glory)
Woah, we’re halfway there
Woah-oh, livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it, I swear
Woah-oh, livin’ on a prayer
(Bon Jovi – living on a prayer)