In 2022 there’s a possibility of a brief but intense meteor shower around 05:00UT on 31st May.<\/p>\n
On the night of 30th\/31st May, the Earth is scheduled to pass through the debris trail left behind by comet 73P\/Schwassman-Wachmann.\u00a0 This is considered the source of a weak meteor shower, the Tau Herculids. Although it is named the Tau Herculids, the shower’s radiant is now in Bootes, between Arcturus and M3. This drift is due to the influence of Jupiter on the orbit of the dust.<\/p>\n
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In 1995 comet 73P was observed growing in brightness by seven magnitudes. Closer examination revealed it had broken up into a number of small fragments and by 2006 it was seen to have broken into at least 68 pieces.\u00a0 Breakups of this nature release a lot of dust, and if the Earth passes through the right part of the debris field, there’s a possibility of significantly enhanced shower activity.<\/p>\n
Sadly for UK observers, the predicted time of the outburst is between 04:55UTC and 05:17UTC, by which time dawn will be breaking and the radiant will be extremely low in the West. However, if you’re in North or South America, the outburst will be better placed. if you have suitable conditions, look out for slow moving fairly dim meteors.<\/p>\n
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In 2022 there’s a possibility of a brief but intense meteor shower around 05:00UT on 31st May. On the night of 30th\/31st May, the Earth is scheduled to pass through the debris trail left behind by comet 73P\/Schwassman-Wachmann.\u00a0 This isRead more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meteor-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t