Stargazers in the United States may get their first look at the Tau Herculids meteor shower at the end of May.
When to watch for the Tau Herculids meteor shower
Meteors aren’t exactly a special occurrence for Earth. In fact, there’s so much space junk out there, that dust and other particles are constantly slamming into the Earth’s atmosphere. However, most of that is very fine dust that burns up within the atmosphere quickly, and without much ado. Meteor showers, though, are usually caused by large fields of debris entering the atmosphere.
Like most meteor showers we’ve come to know and appreciate, Tau Herculids began with a comet. The comet was originally discovered in 1930. German obersevers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann discovered the comet naming it 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, or SW3. Scientists say the comet orbits the sun every 5.4 years. However, it wasn’t seen again until the late 1970s.
When it passed us by again in 2006, the comet was in almost 70 pieces. It’s this shattered debris that will be responsible for the Tau Herculids shower if it appears at the end of May. If it makes it to Earth this year, scientists say the debris from SW3 will strike Earth at just 10 miles per second.
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