A brand new meteor shower could illuminate the night sky on Memorial Day on Monday and Tuesday (May 30-31) or could be a major setback. But anyway, you will be able to watch it live online.
Called the Tau Herculian meteor shower, the event has the potential to be the so-called “meteor storm” of 1,000 shooting stars per hour on Monday night as the Earth passes through the wreckage of Comet 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. But it can also go out completely, scientists just don’t know yet. A NASA scientist called it an “all-or-nothing event.”
You can watch live views of the possible meteor shower on Monday night and early Tuesday in the live stream above the virtual telescope project led by astrophysicist Gianluca Massi in Cecano, Italy. The free webcast will start at 12 o’clock. EDT (0400 GMT) on May 31 and will include full-sky camera views in Arizona and Brazil, Massi told Space.com. You can also watch it directly from the virtual telescope project website (opens in a new section) at the start time.
Related: The biggest meteor storms of all time More: Potential meteor showers are an “all-or-nothing event,” says NASA
Three different views of comet 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, seen by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi from the Bellatrix Observatory and Virtual Telescope Project in Cecano, Italy, May 4/5, 2006 (Image: Gianluca Masi / Bellatrix Telescope Observatory / project)
The potential for meteor showers comes from the decaying nature of comet 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. The comet was first discovered in 1930 and orbits the sun once every 5.4 years, approaching 5.7 million miles ( 9.2 million kilometers) from the sun at any time.
But it is far from certain that the dusty, gaseous debris from Comet 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 will cause an impressive meteor shower, meteor storm or anything else.
Bill Cook, a NASA astronomer who tracks meteor showers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said it all depends on the speed of the comet’s material.
“If the SW 3 debris traveled more than 220 miles [354 kilometers] an hour when it separates from the comet, we can see a nice meteor shower, “Cook said in a recent statement (opens in a new section).” If the debris had a lower ejection rate, then nothing will reach Earth and there will be no meteors from this comet. “
Cook was the one who said that the Tau Herculian meteor shower would be “all or nothing” in the same statement.
Related: 2022 Meteor Shower Guide: Dates and Tips for Viewing
The comet’s eruptions between 1995 and 2000 increased its brightness, and in April 2006 the Hubble Space Telescope noticed a great fragmentation when the comet split. By March 2017, 68 different fragments of the comet remained.
To see any meteors from the Tau Herculid meteor shower, observers should try to get out of the city lights, as all “shooting stars” are likely to be faint due to their slow speed, NASA said.
“If they reach us this year, the SW 3 debris will hit the Earth’s atmosphere very slowly, traveling only 10 miles [16 km] per second – which means much weaker meteors than those belonging to this Aquarium “, writes NASA in a guide (opens in a new section). “But North American astronomers are paying special attention this year, because Herculid’s tau radiant will be high in the night sky at the estimated peak time.”
Editor’s Note: If you take an amazing photo of the Tau Herculian meteor shower and want to share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in a new tab) or follow @tariqjmalik (opens in a new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab), Facebook (opens in a new tab) and Instagram (opens in a new tab).
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