Friday, Aug 28, 2026

"theta-Scorpiids" as seen on meteorshowers.seti.org. View larger image here.

In mid-July, a new meteor shower with the provisional name "theta-Scorpiids" was detected by low-light cameras of CAMS and the Global Meteor Network. Recent analysis showed that the orbits of these meteoroids are remarkably similar to that of asteroid 2023 VN9. About 370 meter in diameter, this now inactive asteroid-looking object moves in a Jupiter-family comet type orbit. The new meteor shower is evidence that 2023 VN9 may be the now cloaked surviving part of a cometary breakup some time ago that also created a stream of meteoroids. 

This CBET telegram was just issued:
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005700/CBET005732.txt

Asteroid 2023 VN9 on November 19, 2023. The cloaked comet appears as just a point of light in this picture by the Schmidt telescope of the Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía (CAHA). Image credit: ESA PDO / M. Micheli.

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