The pi Puppids are a
meteor shower associated with the
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...
26P/Grigg-Skjellerup.
The
meteor
A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...
stream was viewable around April 23 but only in years around the parent comet's
perihelion
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any elli ...
date, the last being in 2003. However, as the planet
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
has now perturbed the comet's perihelion to beyond
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
's orbit it is uncertain how strong the shower will be in the future.
The pi Puppids get their name because their
radiant appears to lie in the
constellation Puppis, at around
Right ascension 112 degrees and
Declination −45 degrees. This made them only visible to southern observers.
They were discovered in 1972 and have been observed about every 5 years - at each perihelion passage of the comet - but often at very low rates per hour.
External links
Observing and History of the Pi Puppids
April events
Meteor showers
{{Meteor showers