New meteor shower

Three independent studies have investigated the likely hood of a new meteor shower occurring this year at the end of May. They have predicted that it will really happen. We’ll see if it really does happen. They’ve predicted that it will occur at 10 p.m. on May 30, and early morning on May 31.   

I’m hoping that we really get to visualize this new meteor shower. Comet 73P Schwassman-Wachman 3 (SW3) orbits the Sun every 5.4 years. This comet was discovered in 1930 when people saw its meteor shower. 

The dust trails ejected in 1995 will closely approach Earth: so, meteors due to this dust trail are highly expected in 2022. We could see 140 meteors per hour. That would be amazing! Of course, that’s a wild card and we may only see 14 per hour, or none at all. 

We really won’t know if the meteors are big and bright, or just small and not visible without binoculars. They’re predicted to be around Bootes which is high overhead in the NE. Since the new moon is on May 30, there will be no interference from the moon. We just won’t know if the meteors are bright and active, or small and faint. 

So, we will just have to go out and look at the sky to see if we can see the meteors. I will probably go out before I go to bed, and then get up during the night and go out again to see if I can see any of them. I will certainly let you know what happens.