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The sky might be outright epic on Monday night with thousands of shooting stars lighting up the heavens. The cosmic phenomenon in question, the Tau Herculid meteor show, could upgrade from a mere shower to a stunning storm this year and potentially consist of multitudes of shooting stars swooping across the dark sky ... or it could be a total bust.
The Tau Herculid meteor show usually takes place this time of year, between now and mid-June, but doesn't usually involve the grand number of shooting stars we're all hoping to see this year. As reported by the Washington Post, astronomers are excited about this year's show because of the possibility of cometary debris clumping up at the exact point in the Earth’s orbital track to create a spectacular star shower with 1,000 shooting stars per hour!
It may feel like the stars are coming toward us in a meteor shower, but it’s actually Earth bumbling through the debris left behind by comets, asteroids and other celestial bodies. Incredibly enough, as the Post explains, most shooting stars are only the size of small pebbles, but they make a great fiery display as they burn up in our outer atmosphere. A meteor storm can involve thousands of stars per hour, to the degree that it actually looks like it’s snowing or raining shooting stars. Astronomers believe this particular meteor storm could bring us 1,000 shooting stars an hour, or roughly 16 a minute, but only for an hour or two. Again, all dependent on whether we wheel right into this debris cloud.
So, when do we find out if the stellar gig’s on? Try stepping outside around 1 am EST on Monday night/Tuesday morning, or 10 pm PST Monday night. Scientists don’t know which exact point in the sky the storm might appear at, so we’ll have to hone our star hunting skills.
We think that’s worth spreading a blanket out for.