While the Earth can breathe freely (for now), the SETI Institute and other astronomers are watching the “potentially dangerous” comets, which in the near future may pose a threat to our planet.
The search began after a meteor shower was noticed on New Year's Eve. It has never been recorded or caught during radar observations. The flow calculations show that the Earth is safe for the foreseeable future, but astronomers will continue to search for a foreign body.
“In a sense, rain helps drive away evil spirits away,” said Peter Jennickens, an astronomer at the SETI Institute, in a statement. “Now we have an early warning that we must find a potentially dangerous comet in this orbit.”
Rain was spotted in New Zealand by a network of security cameras. It was named Volantids in honor of the constellation Volans (Volans - Flying Fish). According to the tradition of meteor rain, the name is given in honor of the place in the sky in which meteors appeared.
Likely car Volantids was sealed in Australia Meteor showers are the most regular and harmless events, but they are used in a new video surveillance project to search for comets that pose a threat to our planet. The project is the result of a collaboration between Jennyskens and Jack Baggali, a professor of physics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
“New Zealand, which lies between 35 and 47 degrees south latitude, has a long tradition of meteor research,” says Baggali. “While radar observations have been effective in the past for observing random meteors, video cameras make it possible to discover the best continuous view.
The network includes 32 video cameras at two stations on the New Zealand South Island, operated by amateur astronomers Peter Aldous on Geraldine and Jan Crampton on West Melton. This information is then transmitted to the SETI institute, where Jenniskens performs the meteor trajectory calculations. The main body, astronomers added, will be difficult to find, since its orbit is too strongly tilted towards the Earth.
