News - Meteorite Shower - 11/28/11

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The normal afternoon news broadcasts though the following segment is added in:

Earth is about to pass through a stream of debris, that officials are naming 'Miochids', from Miocholest comet, newly discovered in the night sky with an ominous red tail. Forecasters expect more than 15 meteors per hour to fly across the sky later this week, when the shower peaks.

"Although this isn't the biggest meteor shower of the year, it's definitely worth waking up for," says Dwayne Deefenbacher of the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office. "The setting is dynamite."

Miochids are framed by some of the brightest and most beautiful constellations in the night sky. The meteors emerge from mighty Orion from there they streak through Taurus the Bull, the twins of Gemini, Leo the Lion, and Canis Major--home to Sirius, the most brilliant star of all.

This year, the Moon and Mars are part of the show. They'll form two vertices of a celestial triangle in the eastern sky on Saturday morning while the shower is most active; Regulus is the third vertex. Blue Regulus and red Mars are both approximately of 1st magnitude, so they are easy to see alongside the 35% crescent Moon. Many Miochids will be diving through the triangle in the hours before dawn.

Deefenbacher's team at the Meteoroid Environment Office will be watching for Miochids that actually hit the Moon.

Cometary debris streams like Miocholest's are so wide, the whole Earth-Moon system fits inside. So when there is a meteor shower on Earth, there's usually one on the Moon, too. Unlike Earth, however, the Moon has no atmosphere to intercept meteoroids. Pieces of debris fall all the way to the surface and explode where they hit. Flashes of light caused by thermal heating of lunar rocks and moondust are so bright, they can sometimes be seen through backyard-class telescopes.

Be sure to keep your eyes on the sky for this amazing light show.

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Along with the local news a special tidbit was added on, a segment with a photo of a cluster of lights in the sky. "Last week we reported that the Miocholest comet would be streaking by in the night sky while debris named Miochids would fall into our atmosphere creating an evening full of shooting stars. No sooner had we aired this report the Miocholest comet seemed to vanish out of thin air. No information has been given as to this disappearance, all our normal contacts either unable to fill us in or they, themselves, out of the loop. Though the silence was overwhelmingly curious even more-so is the fact that Miocholest has seemed to return in the position it was last seen in. Scientists are baffled, Dwayne Deefenbacher of the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office going so far as to shrug his shoulders, when asked, and state "We are looking into this as best we can given the circumstances and hope to know more soon." As questions mount up and no answers being given people all across the globe are starting to wonder what is headed our way.

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A news broadcast interrupts the current TV program being aired.

A newscaster, dolled up for the camera, sits behind a desk with a concerned look on her face, "An almost movie like twist has been announced today by the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office member Doctor Dwayne Deefenbacher." The scene switches to the man who has been dubbed the Miochid Doctor by the media, "The trajectory of the Miocholest comet has been altered. No impacts of any other debris is evident. At this moment it would appear that Miocholest has changed course on it's own."

The crowd in the room explodes, flashes going off a mile a minute and people yelling to get their questions answered. Deefenbacher raises his hand to silence the group before continuing, "We cannot say for certain what this means but I can assure you all the brightest minds on the planet are putting their differences aside to come together and find an answer." He points to someone off camera and a voice is heard, "Doctor Deefenbacher, this new course that the comet is taking, has it been mapped out?" The man at the podium stays quiet for a moment before clearing his throat. "When the comet first disappeared it was on a course to pass by the earth. Since reappearance that plotted course will be bringing Miocholest within two hundred and forty thousand miles of the earth."

The scene returns to the news caster, "With the comet passing by the earth in a distance that is just beyond our own very moon many stargazers are waiting with baited breath in the hopes that a real life Harry Stamper will be found to keep us from what could be a very near-miss. This has been Ivanna Dolittle, News2Salem."