On July 14, 2021, the Subaru-Asahi Sky Camera on the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope at the summit of Maunakea, Hawai’i, captured a rare meteor outburst associated with a so-called meteoroid cluster.
On July 14, 2021, the Subaru Telescope captured more than a dozen meteors streaming from the same direction within a 10-second window. Image credit: Subaru Telescope / National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / Asahi Shimbun Company.
A meteoroid cluster is thought to be caused by meteoric material breaking up into smaller pieces shortly before entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Only a few cases have been reported since this phenomenon was first identified during the Leonid meteor shower in 1997.
“The scientific importance of capturing such a rare phenomenon is extremely great, and it is especially significant because the overall duration of the event was longer than in previous cases,” said Professor Junichi Watanabe, vice-director of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
“The fact that the Subaru-Asahi Sky Camera was located at Maunakea, one of the best observation sites in the world, was also a major factor in capturing such a rare event in addition to recent developments in camera technology.”
“I hope that this camera will continue to capture similar rare phenomena in the future.”
At least 11 meteors of the cluster were observed by two All-Sky Meteor Orbit System (AMOS) cameras atop observatories on Haleakalā and Maunakea.
The AMOS data suggest that the cluster was caused by fragments of a fragile Halley-type comet.
“These meteor clusters come from larger parent bodies like asteroids or comets so they can tell us more about the compositions of those larger objects,” said Dr. Larry Denneau, a project scientist of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).
“It’s exciting that we have more ‘eyes on the sky’ that are able to capture these very short-lived events.”
