Comet 46P/Wirtanen orbits the Sun every 5.4 years
The remnants of near-Earth comet 46P/Wirtanen (46P/Wirtanen) may enter the Earth's atmosphere, causing a new meteor shower called Lambda-Sculptorids on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
A team of scientists led by an astronomer at the Paris Observatory wanted to answer the question of why the meteor shower previously created by the remnants of this comet was not seen on Earth. They found out that such an event should happen very soon – on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
Scientists said:
The results show a possible impact forecast for December 12, 2023, between 8:00 and 12:30 UTC [11:00 and 15:30 Moscow time]. The level of activity of the shower is highly uncertain due to the lack of data on past starfalls. Overall, the best observations for the forecast day will be in Eastern Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.
The progenitor of the potential new meteor shower is comet 46P/Wirtanen, which was discovered in 1948 and orbits the Sun every 5.4 years, much faster than many other known comets.