The meteor shower of the Herculean tau is ready to splash our sky with shooting stars. Fortunately, the sky conditions could not be better for Michigan, and this is rare for a sky event. I even look at the cloud forecast in the United States.
We usually face thick clouds or a bright full moon here in Michigan. Tonight we have the perfect setting in our sky to see a fantastic meteor shower.
Here’s the good news about cloud forecasting. We should have clear skies in most of Michigan at the time of the 1 a.m. viewing tonight.
Cloud cover forecast at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Forecast map numbers represent what percentage of the sky will be overcast. So when you see zero percent, one percent, two percent, you know you don’t have to worry about the clouds blocking the possible meteor shower.
There are also large parts of the United States that will have clear skies at 1 p.m. tonight.
Cloud cover forecast at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Much of the northeast, mid-Atlantic, southeast, and southwest will have large areas of clear skies.
The second part of the good news about sky conditions sounds true to all Americans: there will be a new moon. Remember: a new moon means that there is no bright moon. In fact, the condition of the moon could not be better, with the absolute date of a new moon tonight.
Meteor rain is called tau Hercules. You can read more about the details here.
The rush hour for meteor showers is expected to be around 1 a.m. east tonight. This means that rush hour in the western United States will be around 10pm tonight.
Delta College Planetarium astronomer Mike Murray says the rush hour forecast may be off. He advises that we better start looking for meteors around 22:00 in case the peak arrives early.
There have been some meteors from this meteor shower already reported around the world over the last few nights.
NASA believes the meteors will be faint, but bright enough to see them. They also say that some hot meteors are possible. A fireball has a tail of fire. NASA also seems to downplay the possibility of a meteor storm, which would be 200 meteors or more per hour instead of the expected 60 meteors per hour.
It would not be a bad idea to stay up late and watch the meteor shower. At least we know that heaven will allow us to see it when it happens.