Tau Herkulidy in the Polish sky. Rain falling stars. We will be able to see them already at night from Monday to Tuesday. how to watch

Meteor showers are a phenomenon that occurs when our planet passes through a cloud of particles of matter left over by comets. From the surface of the Earth, we can then observe the “falling stars”, that is, bits of rock and ice that will not have time to burn out in the upper atmosphere of our planet, but fall to the bottom, pulling behind a fiery trail.

The meteorites of Tau Hercules are the remnants of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. When rocks burn in the atmosphere, it appears on Earth as if it were flying by the Hercules cluster – hence the name.

Usually, the swarm does not give amazing performances. However, as Bill Cook of NASA’s Metroid Laboratory (MEO) predicts, the situation this year could be very different.

“It would be an all-or-nothing event,” Cook said. – It all depends on the speed with which the parts move. He explained that if the speed exceeds 350 kilometers per hour, we will see a real meteor shower, but if the speed is lower, there will be no meteors from this comet.

Astronomers predict that this year the peak of this phenomenon will fall on the next night – from May 30 to 31. This will happen at 1 AM EST. In Poland, it will be seven in the morning and it will already be light, because the sun will rise three hours earlier. Therefore, aficionados should try to observe meteors early in the day.

According to the weather forecast, good conditions will prevail in part of Poland. Cloud cover will range from low in the south to high in the north of the country. Faint rains are expected in the evening in the northern, central and western regions. Moreover, moonlight will not be a hindrance because our natural satellite is in the new moon.

It must be remembered that for the observation site it is better to choose a site away from the artificial city lights.