Meteor Shower Of a Lifetime May Light Up The Wyoming Sky Soon!
A comet that began breaking up back in 1995 is still disintegrating. What's left of it will cross paths with Earth's orbit.
THIS COULD BE SPECTACULAR.
Could be. This could be an all-or-nothing event as well, astronomers say. So do you want to take your chances to see this?
According to Earth Sky, the Tau Herculids meteor shower circles the sun every 5.4 years. That's actually a small orbit compared to most comets.
That means that if May 31 isn't our time, it may be this July or August as it comes back around from the other side of the sun.
According to Universe Today, Tau Herculid should blast into our atmosphere at about 1 a.m. on May 31.
"When comets travel close to the Sun, they lay down debris streams of dust shed during their inner solar system passage. If a planet happens to be in the way (such as the Earth) a meteor shower occurs, witnessed as silent flitting streaks through the sky."
These will not be big long streamers but faint little stripes in the sky. That's because these meteors are moving slower than most others, so they will not burn as bright. YET there will be a lot of them.
Being in town is a lousy place to watch this. Thankfully Wyoming has some of the clearest areas in North America, free from lights, to see the night sky.
There is a website, and an app, called Dark Sky Finder, that will help you find the best location to view this event.
Tuesday, May 31st, at 3:00 a.m. Wyoming time is the best time to see what might happen.
There is no moon on this night. That will help.