Starship Asterisk*

Howdy,

First post.

Question: Has anyone done any analysis to determine if we might get a good meteor shower from residual comet McNaught particles??

The tail is so huge it made me think that it would make a great meteor shower.

Unfortunately, no we won't get to enjoy a show from this.

McNaught crossed the ecliptic plane only 15-20 million miles from the sun, less than a quarter the earth's orbit, and at an angle of about 70 degrees. Since the particles tend to stay roughly in the path of the orbit, I don't think there's any chance of us flying through its debris.

The tail, of course, is swept by the sun out to a huge area, but my understanding is that the particles that make up the visible portion of the tail are generally too small to notice if they encounter our atmosphere. The latest APOD of the comet lists diameters ranging from 2-10 microns. I think the meteors we typically see are around a millimeter in size (1000 microns).

Thanks!

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I've enjoyed all the great pictures of this comet...wish I had been able to see it in person. With the spectacular tail this comet has I was wondering if there will be a new meteor shower every year as a result it passing by.

See "McNaught Meteors???"

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... php?t=9784

Thanks, that answers my question!

Threads merged, and moved to the Asterisk Café.