On the morning of May 15, 2022, the Earth is expected to pass though a debris field created by the Apollo asteroid known as 2006GY2. This object is actually a double minor planet with the main body estimated at 400 meters and the secondary satellite at 80m. While the density of debris field is unknown, the fact that this object is a double minor planet may provide a dense stream of debris.
The time of closest approach is at 10:20 UT on May 15th. This timing is ideal for the southwestern USA and Mexico. Unfortunately the moon is only one day from full and any faint meteors will most likely be obscured by the intense moonlight. If your sky is clear and transparent, we encourage you to view the sky near this time to try and confirm any activity. Visual observations are accepted by the International Meteor Organization. Simply register (it’s free) or log in at www.imo.net and enter your data on their visual meteor observing form. We ask for sessions of at least an hour long due to the fact that the prediction may be off from what is quoted here.
The radiant is expected to be located northwestern Hercules, 3 degrees east of the 4th magnitude star known as tau Herculis. Note that this outburst has no relation with the tau Herculids (TAU) which are associated with comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 and may occur on the night of May 30/31. The estimated entry velocity is 36km/sec., which is of medium speed and similar to that of the Geminid meteors.
This is the first of three possible meteor outbursts in the month of May. We will review the others as we approach the date of expected maximum!
References:
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006CBET..534….1B/abstract Accessed 9 May 2022
2022 IMO Meteor Shower Calendar; by Jürgen Rendtel, Page 6
Saw one in Early, Texas deep in the heart of Texas tonight from my porch! It was REAL close. The fire was crazy!
I saw it in Alabama Saturday night
I haven’t seen one since mid eighties but it was spectacular I swear I could hear it it was in northern central Alberta about 7:00 AM still quite dark near Wabamun lake going to an early minor hockey game .
Saw a huge one in zip code 37615 tonight around 9:45 pm!
I saw something falling from the sky today at 4:20 pm EST in SW Virginia. It left a small, rapidly dissipating trail and appears to be moving very fast and plummeting, not cruising smoothly like a plane would do. All normal air traffic moves laterally right to left from my view, but this was a steep diagonal downward. Never heard anything and it went behind a large cumulus cloud. Local news weather had no reports.
I saw one this morning near the Jacksonville International airport around 5:30 am on my way to work. Noticed it as a green streak that then turned orange and then a trail of smoke.
i saw something driving home from work around midnight in the Severn, MD area around midnight on 5/12/2022. I thought at first i was seeing a streetlight reflecting in the windshield. I had time to pull on the shoulder and stop. You could almost see it rolling and it had a bit of a tail. It didnt seem to land but just vanish like it had gone out, though it could have gone behind a coud or tree. it was pretty low in the sky. I haven’t seen or heard any reports.
It is 12am 5-16-2022. We are at lake JB Thomas in West Texas, Scurry County. The meteors are flying!! The moon is so bright, so we are surprised we can actually see them, but it’s incredible!!! They’re dancing across the sky.
I watched this morning, 15 May, from approximately 10 to 11 UT, that is 3 to 4 am here in Eugene, Oregon. The sky was hazy, and because of the bright moon, I could only see stars down to the 3rd magnitude, but I did not see any meteors during this time. Certainly, a fifth magnitude meteor would have escaped my notice, I will be interested to hear of other reports.
Saw one from Carson City Nevada in the Northern sky 5/14/2022 around 11:00 lucky me
I saw one around 11:26pm tonight! It was amazing!!
This morning my girlfriend and I clearly saw that there was a planet peeking up from behind the moon. It was a big planet. We where in north Fresno California about 5:30 am. The last 5 min as the moon disappeared on the hurizon. It was plain as day.
Commenting from AZ. Found this article after trying to find out what we just witnessed! Like a blue arrow with two yellow tails. We were watching the blood moon when it happened!
5/15/2022 I saw a trail at 10:20 p.m in central Wisconsin. Just as lunar eclipse was starting!
I watched on the morning of May 15th from 2:30am PST to 5:15am. Great location at 3,000′ but zero meteors to report from here in Central California (Santa Cruz County, CA)
Saw one up here in Larimore, ND gliding across the sky during the lunar eclipse last night on 15 May 2022 at 2216. It was very faint with the naked eye, but still visible and extraordinary to see! The tail looked like it was sparkling. 🙂
Saw one may 15th around 11 pm in Reynolds, ga 31076 looked like it was coming right at me. Was a bright yet dark orange and took about 5 seconds to burn up.
Going back through photos with my husband today of my birthday camping trip (my birthday is May 16 so we headed to clear skies to camp and see the eclipse) and came across a photo of a long sparkly trail we saw around 10pm PST in central WA… we were totally mind blown but had somehow forgotten about seeing it until now, checked the date and time stamp on the photos and with some googling found this article. Pretty cool! Glad we got photos.