calculate on where you are , November 21 - 22 could bring a abbreviated but very intense explosion of meteors for those lucky enough to see them . Although it ’s not for definite .
The alpha Monocerotids is not a well - known meteoroid shower and not just because of the voiceless - to - pronounce name . Most year , this shower bath is barely distinct from the background skies but four times in the twentieth 100 it was splendid , andtwo modelers of meteor eventsthink 2019 could be another big year .
The whole shower last 10 days , and normally even its November 22 tip is so sparse it is barely detectable , producing just three or four shooting stars an hour . However , if the forecasters are right , this case will be short but very , very sweet . last as little as 15 minutes but peradventure as long as 40 minutes , it ’s thought around 100 meteors could be spotted in that clip , depending of course on where you are .
For North Americans , it should be visible anytime between 11.15pm ET on November 21 and 12.10am on November 22 , though it ’s recall 11.50pm will be the peak viewing time . Europeans should be capable to trance it around 4.15am GMT on November 22 .
Predicting burst like these is hard . Most meteoroid forecasters think the Leonids would be bragging in 1998 or 1999 , and only a few picked 2001 , which went on to be one of themost spectacular meteor showers in memorywhen thou of meteors an hour were visible over the USA , only for it to happen again the next day , with 1000 more visible across Asia and Australia .
This rare"outburst " has been forecastby Peter Jenniskens , who get ahead a repute by scram the 1995 Alpha Monocerotids right ground on approximation of the movements of the cloud of particle left behind by a foresightful - time period comet , and Finnish shooting star forecaster Esko Lyytinen . It ’s thought the Earth is about to authorise through a specially thick section of the tooshie of the unidentified comet that provides the debris for the shower , which is the same condition as the 1995 event , when 400 meteors were seeable an minute .
Meteor " showers " occur when the issue of meteors swells with the debris of an old comet , all appearing to come from the same point in the sky and traveling at the same speed . Amateur astronomers’calendars are dotted with these datesas most showers are regular and predictable , with alike number each twelvemonth : ThinkPerseids(August),Leonids(November ) orGeminids(December ) . They can rank from a handful to hundreds an hour ; a busy one is an experience to cherish for a lifetime .
All meteor rain shower are named after the constellation from which they look to fare . The alpha Monocerotids come out to derive from near the star Procyon , which is next to the configuration Monoceros , Greek for unicorn . You may not be familiar with Monoceros , but it ’s easy to line up as it lie just next to Orion and is seeable from both cerebral hemisphere . It hosts another , very small , shower in December .
If the yoke are faulty , and some forecastersare skeptical , hopefully the horizon of the residue of the sky will excuse the cold and want of sleep . It should be deserving undertake though , as Lyytinen and Jenniskens carry the next outburst to be in 2043 .
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