A New Meteor shower? Maybe

On the night of May 30-31 there may be a new meteor shower - and it might be a big one! Meteor showers occur when the earth passes through the dust of comets when it intersects the orbit of a comet. There are a number of well known annual showers, the Perseids in August being the most recognized.

Back in 1995 comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3) fractured into several large pieces and left a trail of smaller fragments behind. It turns out that the special conditions needed for these particles to produce a shower may have come to fruition. If that is true, and there is a lot of uncertainty, then we may be gifted with an amazing event. For the specific details of this potential major shower, see the article in Sky&Telescope.

If you want to stay up and see what happens, here are the details.

The meteors will appear to come from a point, called the radiant, very near the brilliant orange star Arcturus with the peak occurring at 1:00AM EDT on the 31st. This point will be in the W-SW, about 50 degrees above the horizon. The altitude is high, there is no moon, and right now the weather folks are forecasting clear skies with cool temperatures - the three top ingredients for any meteor shower observer!

S&T Diagram / Gregg Dinderman

But don't be late, or too early. This shower, if it occurs, will only last a few hours at best. I would suggest starting at midnight.

How good could it be? Good question - hard to answer. If all goes well we may be in for up to 600 bright meteors per hour! Or, maybe nothing at all. We'll see.

Don't miss the May Lunar Eclipse

Late Sunday evening, May 15, 2022, the Moon will slip into the earth's shadow for one of the best total lunar eclipses in a long time.  Conditions are favorable for a dark, ruddy red moon, as the path takes our satellite deep within the umbra of the earth's shadow.

Details below are from Sky and Telescope

On Sunday night–Monday morning May 15–16, the Moon will undergo a total eclipse widely visible across the Americas, Europe, and Africa as seen in the diagram below:

As the moon moves through the earth's shadow, it first encounters the penumbra or outer shadow. Here the globe of the Earth partially blocks the solar disk, resulting in a faint shading visible across half the Moon about half an hour before the start of partial eclipse. The first dark "bite" occurs as the Moon enters the umbra, where the Earth completely blocks the Sun's glaring disk — save for reddened sunlight that filters through the atmosphere and into the umbra to color the Moon red.

Starry Night with additions by Bob King

The following diagram shows the key phases of the May 15–16 eclipse as the Moon passes through Earth's shadow. Times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). 

Gregg Dinderman / Sky & Telescope; Source: USNO

You need nothing but your own eyes to see this wonderful event, but binoculars will enhance the view.

Comet C/2021 O3 has disintegrated - too bad :(

Back in March I posted about a new comet discovered on 26 July 2021 by the Pan-STARRS sky survey that looked likely to be a naked-eye object in early May. Unfortunately, C/2021 O3 did not survive it's close pass to the sun. The Astronomer’s Telegram reported on Monday: “Twilight observations conducted with the Lowell Discovery Telescope on April 29 indicate [the comet] has disintegrated. Read more.