Rare Meteor Shower 'Gamma Delphinids' Returns to the Skies over Earth

Astronomers expect an outburst of a scarcely-known meteor shower called 'Gamma Delphinids' that was last seen in 1930. 

Gamma Delphinids was first observed in Maryland by American observers June 11, 1930. Since then, these meteor showers are thought to be rare, seen after decades. But scientists have come up with a calculation stating that 2013 and 2027 are the best years for the meteor showers to occur again. And this year, it is believed that it may put up an incredible show compared to the best meteors of the year, namely Perseids and Geminids.

According to predictions by astronomers Peter Jenniskens and Esko Lyytinen, who specialize in comets and meteor tracking, the outburst is likely to occur at 4:28 a.m. ET on Tuesday and will put an incredible show for about half an hour.   

The first gamma Dephinids were spotted on the evening of June 10, 1930, and most of the meteors were as bright as the brightest star in the sky. Gamma Delphinids travel at a speed of 57 kms per second or 127,500 miles per hour. They travel faster than meteors.

"Starting at 9:15 p.m. EST, they started seeing meteors pouring out of the small constellation Delphinus (the dolphin). The meteors had short trails and brief duration and were yellowish white," says Jenniskens, an astronomer at the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and co-author of a 2003 study that predicted a new outburst might take place this year. "In total the observers [in 1930] saw 51 [meteors] in the next half hour and after that, it was all over."  

An online chat will be held with Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. ET. You can also view the video of the meteor shower taken by the telescope monitoring the skies over Huntsville, Ala., in Marshall's neck of the woods.

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