Spectators excited to see new meteor shower

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- It looks like the skies are clear enough tonight to see the Camelopardalids meteor shower that is passing through Earth's atmosphere for the first time.

At the Chabot Space and Science Center there were about 100 people out on the hillside to view the celestial event.

Astronomers say the meteors are moving at about 12 miles per second which is relatively slow.

So they'll look like bright stars falling as opposed to shooting stars.

We still don't know how spectacular this one will be, but early indications tell us it might be a good one.

Even before the sun went down, radio waves were picking up about 22 meteors per minute falling from the sky, but midnight is the peak time to watch.

"If it's a 100 or 200 that would be a typical nice meteor shower. If it's 1,000 meteors per hour we'll call it a meteor storm and that'll be pretty spectacular," Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center, said.

The brand new meteor shower, called Camelopardalids, can now be seen from Earth because its comet passed too close to Jupiter's r orbit. Jupiter's gravity tugged at the comet and changed its course.

"So that now the comet's orbit actually crosses the plane of the Earth's orbit and we will pass through the stream of particles left behind by the comet.

North America is the best place on Earth to watch it and the best place in North America is California.