The Geminid Meteors can be seen from Earth around the middle of December each year, peaking on the 13-14th, and radiating from a point in the constellation of Gemini. Now Russian astronomer Mikhail Maslov has suggested that this year the shower might be joined by a second group of meteors radiating from the constellation of Pisces on the opposite side of the sky, caused by debris from the tale of Comet 46P/Wirtanen.
The point of origin for the potential new meteor shower. EarthSky.
46P/Wirtanen is a Jupiter Family Comet (a comet with a period of less than 20 years with a low inclination to the plane of the Solar System whose orbit is influenced by the gravity of Jupiter), with a period of 5.4 years, that takes it from slightly outside the orbit of the Earth to slightly inside the orbit of Jupiter. The Earth does not usually cross the path of 46P/Wirtanen, but Maslov predicts that this year it will, potentially leading to an additional meteor shower.
The orbit of 46P/Wirtanen. Image created using the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.
See also Asteroid 4179 Toutatis/1989 AC to fly past the Earth, The Geminid Meteors, The Leonid Meteors, Four more asteroids found to be co-orbitals of Neptune and Asteroid 2012 TC4 passes within 95 000 km of the Earth.
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