It won’t just be the stars at night that are big and bright in Texas on Monday. A meteor shower is expected to be visible tonight as Earth passes through the debris trail of a broken comet. While NASA says there is no guarantee the meteor shower will be visible everywhere, it is expected to be clear in certain parts of Texas.
The tau Herculid shower is expected to give Earth a show Monday night and into Tuesday morning. According to NASA, the meteor shower will be the most visible around midnight Texas time. “This is going to be an all or nothing event. If the debris from SW3 was traveling more than 220 miles per hour when it separated from the comet, we might see a nice meteor shower.
If the debris had slower ejection speeds, then nothing will make it to Earth and there will be no meteors from this comet," said Bill Cooke, who leads NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Officially known as 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, the comet was first discovered in 1930 by German observers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachman, according to CBS DFW. It has been spotted by NASA multiple times over the years, but since breaking up into pieces, will finally give the rest of Earth a show. Hopefully it is worth staying up for.
LISTEN on the Audacy App