A historical meteor shower called the Tau Herculids might be seen from Earth this year. According to experts, the light show is expected to occur from May 30 to 31.
Uncertain Meteor Shower
In various astronomical research, most of the cosmic objects covered by scientists could only be perceived with special instruments such as high-powered telescopes. One example is the small comet that appeared in the skies back in 1995.
This comet was not visible to the naked eye, and experts said that there is no way that the material will present itself in its shining form. But in an unexpected turn, the comet suddenly brightened up, allowing spectators to see the phenomenon without the use of any device.
This year, the same comet will visit Earth. But similar to the 1995 event, the community is divided as to whether it will bring a visible meteor display or not. With the numerous predictions, many experts still believe that the shower, dubbed the Tau Herculids, would shine brighter than expected and might rank the best out of the most spectacular displays appearing yearly in our atmosphere, Space reports.
Some scientists also theorize that there is a small chance Tau Herculids would exceed far more than what the Leonid meteor shower demonstrated two decades ago.
The worst-case scenario is that we might not witness the upcoming meteor shower at all.
This 'uncertain' phenomenon was first discovered more than 90 years ago by German astronomers Arno Arthur Wachmann and Friedrich Carl Arnold Schwassmann of Begedorf's Hamburg Observatory.
The experts were in search of a new asteroid for a catalog when they saw the image of a certain comet. This was the couple's third astronomical discovery, following their prior projects in 1927 and 1929.
SW 3 Comet Fragments Might Cause 1,000 Meteor Showers Per Hour
The 1930 comet was dubbed the 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 or SW 3. On May 31, its flyby location is predicted at approximately 9.2 million kilometers or about 5.7 million miles from our planet.
The SW 3 comet was a bit aloof compared to other notable space rocks of history. Most of its appearance is not visible to either the naked eye or advanced ground-based telescopes. Since its discovery in 1930, the comet has already passed by Earth about eight times without being seen.
In 1995, the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams received numerous reports of sightings of a new comet. This was the same year that the SW 3 was expected to revisit our planet. In a confusing turn, the comet was confirmed as the SW 3 itself.
Despite its position during the time, which was about 190 million kilometers away from Earth, the comet blasted a 6.5 magnitude light that was 400 times brighter than what the scientists expected.
According to a report by The Conversation, the SW 3 will be active at exactly 3 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time. Due to the fragments of this dying comet, there is a chance of Tau Herculids showing a full light show that might run between one to two hours.
In addition, the Tau Herculids shower could drop at least 1,000 meteors across the skies per hour or none at all.
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