According to NASA, a rare meteor shower could reach its peak like a storm if the Earth passes through the wreckage of a broken comet on the night of May 30 to the morning of May 31.
The meteor shower, tau Herculid, is a new arrival this year that comes from its parent comet called 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, or short as SW3.
What to expect and how to look
NASA said the rain could be a “whole or a mistake” as it depends on how fast the fragments of the broken comet travel.
“This is going to be an all-or-nothing event,” said Bill Cooke, who heads NASA’s Bureau of Meteorological Environment. “If SW3 debris traveled more than 220 miles per hour (or 354 km / h) when it separated from the comet, we could see a good meteor shower. If the debris had slower ejection rates, then nothing would reach Earth, and there will be no meteors from this comet. “
If it occurs as estimated, the sky will be free of the moon as the new moon arrives on May 30, and observers in the western hemisphere of the Earth will have the best chance of seeing the rain of Herculides tau.
For people in North America, just take off your beach chair and lie down in a clear, dark sky. Be sure to keep your eyes open around 1am on the east coast or 10pm on the west coast.
However, people in China can try to see the shower early or later at night.
“You won’t see as many shooting stars as they did at their peak, but they are expected to be hundreds every hour or so,” said Xiu Lipeng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society.
The mysterious SW3
SW3 was first discovered in 1930 and orbits the Sun every 5.4 years. However, it was so weak that it was not seen again until the 1970s. Then, in 1995, astronomers realized that the comet had broken into several pieces and became much more visible to the naked eye during its passage.
Since then, SW3 has continued to destroy its own orbital path with debris.
The fragments of the comet that formed the meteor shower got their name from the point in the sky where they first seemed to radiate.
A 2001 study of comet SW3 published in the Journal of the International Meteorological Organization said there was a short-lived meteorite explosion that could be related to the comet.
Interestingly, observers have never seen any meteorites of this comet radiate from the location of Tau Herculid in our sky.
If it does occur, the meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation of Boötes, about 6 degrees north-northwest of the bright star of Arcturus, according to EarthSky.org.
Whether the meteorite storm occurs or not, the time spent under the sky will not be lost.
Or you can try your luck with the following quiz to commemorate this meteor shower in the unit!