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comet ison meteor shower presented by

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science at NASA anticipation is building

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as comet Ison plunges into the inner

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solar system for a close encounter with

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the Sun in November 2013 blast at

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point-blank range by solar radiation the

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sungrazer will likely become one of the

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finest comets in many years

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when NASA's Swift spacecraft observed

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the common in January 2013 it will still

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near the orbit of Jupiter but already

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very active more than one hundred and

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twelve thousand pounds of dust were

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spewing from the comet's nucleus every

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minute it turns out some of that dust

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might end up on earth

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veteran meteor researcher Paul why grid

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of the University of Western Ontario has

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been using a computer to model the

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trajectory of dust ejected by comet ison

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and his findings suggest that an unusual

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meteor shower could be in the offing for

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several days around january 12th 2014

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earth will pass through a stream of

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fine-grained debris from comet ison says

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Swaggart the resulting shower could have

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some interesting properties for one

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thing it could dust the surface of the

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earth according to y grits computer

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models the debris stream is populated

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with extremely tiny grains of dust no

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more than a few microns wide they will

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be hitting at a speed of fifty six

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kilometers a second because the

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particles are so small they will be

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rapidly slowed to a stop in Earth's

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upper atmosphere instead of burning up

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in a flash of light they will drift

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gently down to the earth below he says

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don't expect to notice though the

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invisible rain of Comet dust if it

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occurs would be very slow it can take

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months or even years for fine dust to

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settle out of the high atmosphere

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another unusual manifestation of the

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shower could be noctilucent clouds

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noctilucent clouds are electric blue

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clouds that float high above Earth's

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poles recent data from NASA's Ames

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spacecraft suggests that they are seeded

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by space dust tiny meteoroids act as

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nucleating points where water molecules

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gather the resulting ice crystals

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assemble into clouds at the edge of

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space itself this is still speculative

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but common Ison could provide the seeds

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for a noctilucent display electric blue

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ripples over Earth's polar regions might

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be the only visible sign that a shower

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is taking place waggit notes yet another

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curiosity the shower is going to hit our

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planet from two directions at once

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when Earth passes through the debris

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stream we will encounter two populations

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of Comet dust one swarm of deaths will

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be following common Ison into the Sun

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another swarm will be moving in the

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opposite direction pushed away from the

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Sun by solar radiation pressure the

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strings will pepper opposite sides of

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Earth simultaneously in my experience

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this kind of double whammy is

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unprecedented says why Gert bill cooke

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of nasa's meteoroid environment office

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says there's little danger to earth

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orbiting spacecraft these particles are

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just too small to penetrate the walls of

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our satellites and they don't stand a

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chance against the heavy shielding of

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the ISS however he adds mission

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operators undoubtedly will be alert

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around january 12th for possible

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anomalies skywatcher should probably be

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alert to the odds of seeing anything

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arlo become an ice on could prove full

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of surprises for more information about