The last night of May will mark the end of the month with a glorious astronomical spectacle, as Earth may pass through a huge cloud of debris from a comet, which could generate a shower of up to 1,000 meteors per hour which will flood the night sky on May 30 and 31, 2022.
Historically it was known as Tau Herculidas: an intense meteor shower, caused by the explosion of a comet which passes close to the Earth. As our planet orbits the Sun, it will pass through a “particularly narrow and dense” pool of debris.
The event has been described by some experts as “the strongest meteor storm in generations”, as it could be the the heaviest meteor shower in over 20 years.
Where do you come from?
In 1930, a team of German astronomers detected a comet named 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3) and recorded its passage near the Earth, from the Hamburg Observatory.
This generated a gentle meteor shower called Tau Herculidaswhich is so named because its radiant – the part of the sky from which lightning seems to emerge – is close to Tau Herculesa star of hercules constellation.
Infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope showing the shattered comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3, gliding along a trail of debris left over from its extensive travels around the Sun. Credit: NASA
Years of observations have revealed that the same comet approaches our planet approximately every 5.4 years. Nearly a century after its discovery, astronomers have revealed that SW3 will pass within 9.2 million kilometers of our planet; leaving in its wake an astonishing meteor shower that will fill the night sky with shooting stars.
However, the event depends on certain factors: “If the debris from SW3 was moving at more than 354 kilometers per hour when it separated from the comet, we could see a good meteor shower.” But, “if the debris had slower speeds, then nothing will reach Earth and there will be no meteorites from this comet,” according to declared Bill Cooke, director of NASA’s Meteoroid Environmental Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Where can you see the Tau Herculids meteor shower?
Star rain.
The cosmic spectacle can be seen across much of the Northern Hemisphere, including Mexico, central, southern and eastern Canada, virtually all of the continental United States, Central America and parts of the ‘West Africa.
The best time to see it will be around 2 a.m. local time, and to have the best chance of seeing it, people should get as far away from city lights as possible.
Also, the use of special equipment such as telescopes or binoculars is not recommended as it reduces the field of view and meteorites move in all directions, so it is not necessary to focus on part of the night sky.
On the other hand, scientists have not confirmed whether the event could negatively affect our planet or not, since it depends on the amount of debris ejected and the speed with which it was launched. Moreover, they are too small to detect them in advance.
You might also be interested in: One of the first human settlements was destroyed by a comet 12,800 years ago.
Jonti Horner, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland, and Tanya Hill, Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, to assure which, whatever happens, will greatly improve our understanding of how comet-breakup events occur.
References: NASA / National Geographic / Space.
A post of Science of mystery. All rights reserved. – Redistribution and rebroadcasting of this content without prior permission is expressly prohibited. Site protected by Safe Creative.
Thanks for reading us. We invite you to follow us on our Facebook, to be aware of all the news that we publish daily. You can also join our community at Telegram. We are waiting for you!
Earth Could Go Through A ‘Meteor Storm’ Today – Mystery Science
The last night of May will mark the end of the month with a glorious astronomical spectacle, as Earth may pass through a huge cloud of debris from a comet, whi
horoscopes
en
https://horoscopesunmoon.com/static/images/horoscopes-earth-could-go-through-a-meteor-storm-today-mystery-science-1849-0.jpg
2024-12-02
Original content at https://fromthesource.link/2022/05/30/earth-could-go-through-a-meteor-storm-today-mystery-science/
All rights are reserved for the original content (link in the upper line) author's
Acording with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), Pub. L. 105-304 If you believe that your copyrighted work is being infringed, notify our team at the email [email protected]