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John Homenuk

Small asteroid, discovered days ago, will pass Earth Sunday

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Talk about a close call. An asteroid, designated 2014RC, was discovered just 5 days ago by the Catalina Sky Survey in Tuscan, Arizona. The results were reported to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachussets. The discovery came with only a slight bit of alarm, as the orbital elements quickly revealed that the small asteroid would pass safely away from the earth. At the time of its closest approach, the asteroid will be over New Zealand at around 2:18pm Eastern time on Sunday.

The reflected light from the asteroid suggests it is about 60 feet in size — so a small asteroid at that. Still, an impact from such an object could cause significant impacts on our planet. At its closet point, the asteroid will pass approximately 1/10 of the distance from the Earth’s center to the moon, or about 25,000 miles. That asteroid’s magnitude will only reach 11.5, making it virtually unobservable to the unaided eye.

Graphic depicting the path of asteroid 2014RC. (NASA).

Graphic depicting the path of asteroid 2014RC. (NASA).

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John Homenuk

Major meteor shower possible tonight: Things to know

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A few days ago, we detailed the upcoming Camelopardalid meteor shower. The day (and night) is finally here! With the new, potentially major meteor shower peaking Friday Night into Saturday morning, there are still many questions to be answered. We do our best to answer them, provide additional information, and inject our weather knowledge into the potential amazing celestial event — to try and forecast whether or not our area will be able to view it.

The Basics

The new meteor shower was discovered and timed by scientists last year — and was known to be possible before that. It is occurring, as most meteor showers do, as the Earth passes hrough the debris path of a comet. For instance, Earth has been passing through Comet Swift-Tuttle debris to create the Perseid meteor shower for thousands of years.This time, it’s Comet 209P/LINEAR which is causing the meteor shower — and Earth has never crossed paths with its debris before. When Earth passes through the debris fields of comets, the bunches of rock (of varying density) crash through the Earth’s atmosphere, burning up as they do so and creating an amazing spectacle known as shooting stars, or meteors.

Accordingly, on the night of Friday May 23rd into Saturday May 24th, scientists have been able to pinpoint the interaction between Earth and Comet 209P/LINEAR’s debris field. The debris field just so happens to be quite dense, and this has scientists wondering if the meteor shower just may reach “storm level” — or at the very least provide a very strong meteor shower.

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John Homenuk

Mid-Atlantic snowstorm departs, temperatures moderate

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Could this finally be the end? For the second storm in a row, dry air won out over much of Northern NJ, New York City and Southern New England causing any significant snowfall to be relegated to the Mid Atlantic states. A low pressure system developing off the coast from the Tennessee Valley brought bands of heavy snow as far north as Southern and Central NJ. 7-10″ of snow fell from Washington DC through parts of suburban Maryland into Southern NJ. and as the low pressure system exits off the coast on Monday, forecast models show very little threat for winter precipitation in the near future for the first time in months.

Despite the lack of winter storm threats, which appears to finally be coming to fruition after several straight weeks of snow potential in a row, the pattern is likely to remain cold with only brief spurts of warmth through the end of the month. The consistently elongating and morphing lobe of the Polar Vortex will remain in Eastern Canada, owing to a persistently anomalous Pacific pattern. But over time, models agree that the cold will become less starling and the chances for snow will decrease. For the first time, it looks like the proverbial light at the end of this year’s endless tunnel of winter is in clear view.

Regional radar imagery from 9:00am Monday March 17, 2014 showing snow moving southeast of NYC and out to sea. Image courtesy weather tap.

Regional radar imagery from 9:00am Monday March 17, 2014 showing snow moving southeast of NYC and out to sea. Image courtesy weather tap.

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John Homenuk

Asteroid to black out bright star during once in a lifetime event

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An asteroid will pass directly in front of Regulus, one of the brightest stars in our night sky, next Wednesday — briefly blacking out the star in what astronomers are calling a “once in a lifetime” event. Better yet, New York City falls directly within the viewing path which is literally paper-thin on the earths scale. The event is so small, and so brief, that it will only be visible over a sliver of area. And this area happens to encompass millions of people in New York City, Northeast NJ and Long Island.

Late Wednesday Night March 19 (or early Thursday morning March 20) at 2:06am, the asteroid Erigone will very briefly pass in front of Regulus, the first magnitude star which shines bright enough in the sky to be noticeable even in the metropolis of New York City.

The predicted path of the eclipse of Regulus as the asteroid passes in front of it. Image credit: Geoff Hitchcox / IOTA / Google Maps.

The predicted path of the eclipse of Regulus as the asteroid passes in front of it. Image credit: Geoff Hitchcox / IOTA / Google Maps.

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