Title: “The Night of the Shooting Stars”
Speaker: Joe Rao
Abstract:
In 1995, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 broke apart in dramatic fashion. Now, a number of meteor dynamicists have confirmed what Joe Rao had predicted last year: A stream of particles ejected during the comet’s disruption may yield a dramatic meteor outburst at the end of May 2022. The predictions are uncertain because no one knows for sure how fast the concentrated dust swarm left 73P’s disintegrating nucleus, but there is a chance that we could see meteors briefly fall at rates numbering in the scores, or maybe even in the hundreds per hour! In this presentation, Joe will explain the reasons why late on the night of May 30th, you may see more shooting stars than you’ve seen in your entire life!