A New Meteor Shower in December?

Dec. 11, 2012:  If you're outdoors after sunset this week, be alert for meteors. Not only is the Geminid meteor shower active as Earth passes through a stream of debris from "rock comet" 3200 Phaethon, but also, say forecasters, a new meteor shower could make an appearance.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen. Photo credit: T. Credner, J. Jockers, T.Bonev / Max-Planck-Institut fur Aeronomie, [more] 

 

"The source of the new shower is Comet Wirtanen," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Dust from this comet hitting Earth's atmosphere could produce as many as 30 meteors per hour."

More - Link >>> http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/11dec_newshower/

Source: NASA Science News.

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