First Meteors Spotted From New Memorial Day Weekend 'Giraffe' Meteor Shower
MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) -- The first meteors of what was a never-before-seen Memorial Day Weekend meteor shower, the Camelopardalids or 'Giraffe' shower, have already been seen, caught on camera, and cataloged, according to meteor researchers at the SETI Institute in Mountain View.
The first shooting star was observed from a network in the Netherlands and Belgium. The meteors were spotted just as the clouds cleared over the European observing stations. Two streaks in the sky were seen coming from the direction of the new meteor shower.
Radar echoes from the 209P/LINEAR comet's debris were detected Thursday night.
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At 10 p.m. Friday night, the SETI Institute's Peter Jenniskens and a team will take off from Palo Alto for a trip above the clouds and dust to 20,000 feet to document the shower. Simultaneously, automated meteor shower systems at the Lick Observatory, Fremont Peak Observatory, and in Sunnyvale will scan the skies.
This video below shows an annual June meteor shower believed to be similar to Friday's. These meteors may come from the same comet, but a different pass back in history.