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Potential new meteor shower is ‘all or nothing event,’ says NASA astronomer | Space

A shattering comet might generate a new tau Herculids shower on May 30 and 31

A blast of new meteors may emerge during a tau Herculid meteor shower on May 30 and 31, but that’s not a sure thing.

NASA astronomer Bill Cooke termed the potential meteor shower milestone an “all or nothing event” in a blog post from the agency earlier in May, as astronomers track the debris from the broken-up comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (also known as SW 3).

“If the debris from SW 3 was traveling more than 220 miles [354 kilometers] per hour when it separated from the comet, we might see a nice meteor shower,” Bill Cooke, who leads NASA’s meteoroid environment office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said in a statement (opens in new tab).

“If the debris had slower ejection speeds,” Cooke added, “then nothing will make it to Earth and there will be no meteors from this comet.“  …