A comet that collapsed once lost could deliver a new meteor shower to Earth next week.
The rain, which has been called Tau Herculids, will fall from the shattered comet SW3 from May 30 and reach a maximum on May 31 between 12:45 and 01:17 EDT, illuminating the skies in the States United and parts of Canada. with brief but bright streaks of flame.
NASA astronomer Bill Cooke described the comet’s possible upcoming appearance in a NASA statement as an “all-or-nothing event.” The show would be the result of debris falling from a fragment of the comet. Although the comet’s debris often falls behind the comet’s fragment to form a tail, it can sometimes be ejected at such a high speed that pieces of ice and rock are thrown in front of the comet. Because we see this waste as it burns in our atmosphere, it must be large enough or fast enough to burn intensely as our planet walks its path, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).
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“If SW3 waste traveled more than 220 miles per hour [354 km/h] when it separated from the comet, we could see a good meteor shower, “Cooke said.” If the debris had slower ejection rates, nothing would reach Earth and there would be no meteors from that comet. “
Comet SW3, or 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann, was named after its discoverers, German astronomers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann. The pair first found and cataloged SW3 in 1930, confirming from orbital observations that it was in a 5.4-year orbit. On its closest visit on May 31, 1931, the comet was only 9.2 million kilometers from Earth, but it was quite faint and could only be seen through telescopes.
Then, in 1935, the comet disappeared from sight, coming and going eight times unseen until it was finally detected again in 1979. The comet remained weak until its overflight in 1995, when it returned almost 400 times brighter and more visible to the naked. ull. Subsequent research soon revealed that the brightness of SW3 was due to an impressive transformation: its icy core had split into four fragments and by 2006 the shattered comet had split into 68 pieces. It is likely to have continued to break even further in the next 16 years.
The best places to detect meteor showers will be in the southwest, the AMS said.
“The southwestern United States and Mexico are favorite places, because the radiant, the area of the sky where these meteors come from, will be higher up in a dark sky,” Robert Lunsford wrote on the company’s blog. “Alaska and Washington will be swimming in the twilight right now, ruining their chances of seeing anything. The same goes for the northern and western provinces of Canada. The outbreak can be seen from southeastern Canada and the rest of the United States (east), but at a lower altitude “.
The best place to look for the comet is the constellation of Boötes, which is right next to the star Arcturus, according to EarthSky. Also, because the moon will be in a new phase, the sky will be dark, making it easier to see potential. The darkest possible viewing space is recommended to detect this shower, as many of its smaller pieces will move slowly, meaning they will burn dimly and may not be visible. However, as the screen may also contain larger fragments, there is a possibility that the shower may include impressive slow-moving fireballs.
“If we get there this year, SW3 debris will hit the Earth ‘s atmosphere very slowly, traveling just 10 miles. [16 km] second, which means much weaker meteors than those belonging to the eta Aquariids, “NASA wrote in its blog post.
Originally published in Live Science.