Researchers at the SETI Institute spotted something odd on New Year’s Eve
over New Zealand. A stream of meteor showers appeared out of nowhere and now
scientists around the world are scrambling to figure out where it originated
and whether the parent body of that shower could be headed towards earth.
The shower, dubbed the Volantids, had not been seen before and has
never been identified on previous radar observations, suggesting that a new,
as of yet unknown object has now entered our solar system.
A new network of video surveillance cameras in New Zealand has detected a
surprise meteor shower on New Year’s Eve. The shower is called the Volantids,
named after the constellation Volans, the flying fish, from which the
meteoroids appear to stream towards us.
“In a way, the shower helped chase bad spirits away,” says SETI Institute
meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens. “Now we have an early
warning that we should be looking for a potentially hazardous comet in that
orbit.”
…
Jenniskens and Baggaley describe the network and report on the new result
in a paper submitted for publication in the Journal of the International
Meteor Organization. The paper characterizes the trajectories of 21 Volantids
measured on December 31, and two more on January 1.
“These were naked-eye meteors and rates peaked at the time of the local New
Year’s Eve celebrations,” notes Jenniskens. “One out of three meteors that
night came from this shower.”
The shower was not seen the year before and is not known from past radar
observations.
“A confined stream of dust particles must have been steered into Earth’s
path for a brief moment,” says co-author and meteoroid stream dynamicist
Rachel Soja of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, who calculated that the
Earth will be safe from the comet and its debris in the near future.
The meteoroids move in a fairly steeply inclined orbit similar to that of
some Jupiter-family type comets.
“The parent body of this stream still eludes us,” says Soja. “It
may not be active now and the high inclination may make it difficult to
spot.”
Source: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI Institute)
The body from which the New Year’s Eve shower originated is likely a
meteor or comet, but given that it was visible from the Southern hemisphere
and has yet to be identified, there will no doubt be speculation that it
could be the long-rumored Planet-X making an appearance.
Some reports have suggested that the planet, identified in historical and
religious texts like the Bible, makes a pass around Earth on a 3,600 year
orbit. Though no official evidence of the planet has ever been confirmed,
various reports, including a NASA press release from 1983 suggests that it may exist. That
report was retracted by NASA the following year.
Astronomers did identify a tenth planet that is larger than Pluto sitting on the
outer edges of our solar system in 2005, but data indicate this planet has
not left its orbit, making it highly unlikely that it is the so-called planet
Nibiru of ancient texts.
While we certainly can’t say that Earth is on a collision course with an
asteroid or planetary body in the immediate future, the head of NASA issued a cryptic warning in the summer of
2011 advising employees to prepare their families and friends for an as of
yet unknown threat:
NASA recently participated in a FEMA exercise called Eagle Horizon
that was a part of a continuity of operations of government exercise
that we do annually, and I became aware of some things that
concerned me about family preparedness…
…
So, what I’m asking all of you in the NASA family, whether you’re out on
the West coast, here on the east coast, along the Gulf Coast, up on the Great
Lakes, think about the natural disasters that could occur in your area.Think
about attacks that could come like 9-11, from outside forces, and talk to
your family about your work and what they need to do to prepare for
the unforeseen.
Develop a family preparedness plan in your house.
In the Fall of 2015 public concern over a massive asteroid headed towards
Earth was so significant that NASA actually issued a press release denying that a large body would
strike the planet any time in the next several hundred years.
A NASA spokesman said: “NASA knows of no asteroid or comet
currently on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a
major collision is quite small.
“In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to
strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years.”
So, for the time being, NASA says we’re safe and according to SETI-linked
scientists, it is highly improbable that the Volantid meteor shower is an
indicator of an impending global disaster.
But, considering we are only able to observe a small portion of the sky,
we certainly can’t rule it out.
Also Read:
NASA Plan to Protect Planet Hopes “Nuclear Blast Could Nudge
Large Asteroid Off Course”
NASA Head Issues Agency-Wide Preparedness Alert: “I Became
Aware of Some Things…”
Fox News Reports: New Research “May Give Way To Evidence of
the Existence of Planet X”
This Video Will Shock You: Is Prophecy Coming To Pass?
How To Prepare For
Any Disaster
