A few weeks ago , tidings begin to circulate of apossible meteoroid stormhappening at the end of May – the first in two decades . Now research worker report on the possibility of another possible one , and it is chance in just two daylight . The culprit might be dual asteroid2006 GY2 .
Meteor storms are regular meteoroid showers on steroid hormone . The best meteor rain shower might deliver 100 ethereal bar in an hour , but most are in the " less than 20 " category . During meteor storms , which are much more strange , thousands of rocky detritus fall through the atmospheric state create cosmic firework .
The conditions for these are uncommon . The Earth needs to pass through a dumb cloud of rubble for it to take place – 2006 GY2 being the case of asteroid known as a twofold underage major planet may allow a dull stream of debris – and predicting if and when is going to happen is not exactly precise . Meteor shower hail from the stuff left - over by comets and some asteroids as they orb the Sun , crossing Earth ’s path through the Solar System . Denser chunk often happen with geometrical regularity , but they can give up anything from a slim increment to an epochal one , such as the Leonid meteor storm of November 17 , 1966 , when up to 20 meteors were seenper second .
The International Meteor Organizationreportsthat 2006 GY2 has exit astream of debris behindand it might be sizable enough to bring out a meteor tempest . The only affair we need is for Earth to cross it , and our major planet is about to do so on Sunday , May 15 . The " minor satellite " is made up of a 400 - m - wide ( 1,310 - foot ) asteroid in orbit with another one 80 meters ( 260 metrical unit ) in diameter .
The time of closest approach shot , think the detritus will enter the standard pressure , is anticipate to be around 10:20 am UT ( 6:20 am ET ) on Sunday . That means that US and Mexico will have the best prospect and better luck to follow if the meteor tempest in reality takes place .
But there is a fragile problem . The Moon will be almost full – getting ready for thetotal lunar eclipsethat will take spot Sunday nighttime – so the brightness of our natural planet might hinder observation .
Meteoroids – as meteor are telephone before participate the atmosphere – are usually tiny , the sizing of rice , so it is very unmanageable to reckon how many there might be wait to be captured by the pull of Earth ’s gravity .
If the 2006 GY2 meteoroid storm is a no - show , there is still hope that theTau Herculids on May 30 - 31may be the first meteor storm since theLeonid stormsof 2001 - 2002 . But we can only wait and see .
