Unusual meteor event predicted today

Unusual meteor event predicted for weekend
Debris shed from a comet 2000 years ago could put on a rare and dazzling meteor display this weekend.Unlike the more consistent meteor showers like the Perseids, which return dependably year after year, the alpha Aurigids are highly capricious. Most years they fail to show up, but on rare occasions they put on a fine show (see Rare meteor shower to shed light on dangerous comets).The Aurigids have only been observed three times in the past century – in 1935, 1986, and 1994. Their next predicted appearance is this weekend, after which they are not expected to appear again for at least 50 years.The Aurigids are expected to show up during a narrow window of time – about half an hour on either side of 1136 GMT on the morning of Saturday 1 September. This falls during daylight hours for Europe and most of North America, making the Aurigids unobservable.But it will still be dark at the beginning of the event in Central America and for the entire event on the west coast of North America, where the peak occurs at 0436 PDT. Western North America is best situated to observe the meteors, since the radiant – the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to radiate – will also be high in the sky there.