Rare ‘unicorn’ meteor shower to light up the sky

Posted on 21 November 2019

Scientists are predicting a spectacular meteor shower on Friday, 22 November, which has not occurred since 1995 and is not expected to reoccur until 2043.

The Alpha Monocertoid meteor shower takes place each year around 21-23 November, but what makes the next shower extraordinary is that instead of only producing a few meteors, an outburst of up to 400 meteors is expected.

It’s been dubbed a unicorn shower because the normally weak Alpha Monocertids radiates from near the Monoceros constellation (monoceros is Greek for ‘unicorn’).

Meteor scientists predict that the shower will only last for about 40 minutes, with the peak of the outburst lasting for about 15 minutes. It will be visible at 04:50 Universal Time. Unfortunately, it will already be light in South Africa (6:50am) however, you can watch it online at virtualtelescope.eu

The shower will be visible in North America and Europe with the best viewing forecast to be in eastern South America and western Africa. Meteor scientists Esko Lyytinen and Peter Jenniskens suggest you go outside 45minutes before the shower to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark.

This shower has previously produced four recorded outbursts, in 1925, 1935, 1985 and 1995.

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons






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