dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/07/85)
There's a possibility for a meteor shower Tuesday morning -- as Earth intersects the orbit of Comet Giacobini-Zinner. More -- after this. October 7 The Giacobinids The Giacobinid meteors are due to peak tomorrow morning. These meteors come from Comet Giacobini-Zinner -- the one encountered last month by NASA's spacecraft I.C.E. Comets are the litterbugs of the solar system. As they orbit the sun, they leave behind particles of ice and dust. As the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet -- and we pass through a hundred or more each year -- our planet plows through this cometary debris. Depending on how much debris is there, we might see a spectacular meteor shower. The meteors come from cometary particles vaporizing in our atmosphere. The Giacobinids are an interesting shower -- because the comet passed through this region of space just last month. It often happens that there is more debris near the parent comet. The Giacobinids, especially, are known to swarm close behind Comet Giacobini-Zinner. In years when the comet has just passed, some remarkable Giacobinid showers have been recorded. In 1933, six thousand meteors were seen in one hour. In l946, ten thousand meteors were observed. And yet experts believe tomorrow's shower won't be spectacular -- because the comet didn't pass this way recently enough. But comets and meteor showers are both unpredictable. The Giacobinids may put on a great display Tuesday morning before dawn. If you're a gambler, and want to try to observe the shower, just remember -- you'll need a dark country sky to enjoy the show. Script by Diana Hadley and Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin