Skywatchers have high hopes for a new meteor shower Friday night and Saturday morning.
Since it is a new meteor shower, its performance cannot be accurately predicted, said Stan Seeberg, with Vancouver Sidewalk Astronomers. Its peak might be around midnight, but it might be wise to begin observing earlier, he said.
Meteor showers are produced when the Earth passes through the debris left in the wake of comets. This week, Comet 209P/LINEAR is making a close pass by Earth, within about 3.7 million miles.
The Earth will intersect with debris trails that were created in the 18th and 19th centuries. If it released a lot of gas and dust back then, it could put on a show that would rival the prolific Perseid meteor shower in August, according to NASA website.
The meteors will radiate from a point in the constellation Camelopardalids (“camel leopard” or “giraffe”) near the North Star.
