Lto night of San Lorenzo this year comes earlier. All thanks to a comet which “split” in 1995 and is still fragmenting.
Rain of shooting stars on May 30th
Looking at the dark sky between 30 and 31 therefore it will probably be possible to admire it a shower of shooting stars. In fact, for that evening, the peak of the Ercolidi taua meteor shower usually inconspicuous but which this year could instead set the skies on fire with an unprecedented fireworks display.
These are fragments derived from the disintegration of the comet SW3a body first noticed in 1930 by German astronomers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Wachmann and then not seen again until 1979.
There is currently no certainty that the phenomenon will occur, says Bill Cooke, head of the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office: «If the debris detached from the comet travels at more than 26.7 meters per second we will see a beautiful meteor shower. S.and they move slower will not reach the Earth and there will be no meteor shower. ‘
The night of San Lorenzo comes earlier this year. All thanks to a comet that “split” in 1995 and is still fragmenting
But what are meteors?
The meteors they are debris and dust that ignite when they enter the atmosphere of our planet.
When, however, the orbit of the Earth crosses that of a comet, the debris that make up the comet’s tail produces hundreds of meteors every hour, transforming the sky in an exceptional show.
Shooting stars: from the Perseids to the Hercolides tau
This is how meteor showers are born: there are some very regular ones, such as for example the Perseidsthat have been happening for thousands of years and will continue to do so.
In the case of tau Ercolidi the situation is different. In 1995, a process of disintegration of comet SW3 began which released fragments along its entire orbit, giving rise to a swarm that now it could reach Earth and turn into luminescent dust once in contact with our atmosphere. Whether or not it will be visible will depend on the speed of the impact.
The swarm should be particularly visible from North America, but if the conditions are optimal, the show is also guaranteed in Europe.
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