This Memorial Day weekend, Earthlings, especially in North America, will be able to see a new meteor shower.
Tie Meteors Our planet will glow as it passes through pieces of the decaying comet Schwarzman-Watchman 3 (SW3). This is not just a file Attractive opportunity for astronomers; Comet scientists are also looking forward to this meeting. According to NASA, the meteor shower on Memorial Day (Monday, May 30) will be frightening (or depressing) overnight and will last until early Tuesday.
SW3 is very close to the sun Comet Standards; It completes the orbit of our star every five years. 1995 It began to disintegrate, shattering into dozens of small pieces, leaving a cloud of debris orbiting the sun.
Related: NASA says new meteorites ‘all or nothing’
More: A possible meteor storm makes it possible to hear a “meteor”
We have already seen the comets fade away. According to William Rich, an astronomer at the Sophia Science Center in California, NASA’s Ames Research Center, one of the 100 periodic comets, may or may not be the last one.
Of course, in the 90s Comet Batsiwis Levy9 He crashed, and large parts of him collided with Jupiter. But while the current crash of SW3 seems a bit similar, the process is “almost not the same,” Rich told Rich.com.
Scientists are not entirely sure why comets crash. It can be one or a combination of components. For example, Schumacher-Levy 9 crashed under the strong gravitational pull of Jupiter. However, volatile compounds such as water contained in some other comets can decompose when heated and gaseous from solids.
Related: 2022 Meteor Shower Guide: Dates and Watch Tips
In addition, the constant oscillation of the comet from the inner solar system to the cold outer corners and back creates thermal pressure on the body. When pressed enough often, something can stand out.
In any case, SW3 disconnects. Over the past few decades, the Earth’s orbit has brought our planet closer to a cloud of debris. Finally, this year seems to be the year we pass. If this is true, a lot of cometary debris would fall Earth’s atmosphere They burn like meteorites, and some of them are amazing.
Astronomers expect it to happen; They want to get a closer look at the fragments of the sky. In fact, an astronomer Jeremy WavillanIt plans to fly a jet over New Mexico and Arizona during the meteor shower and get closer.
“Flying through it, knowing that it’s there, the particles remain,” Rich.com told Space.com. “It simply came to our notice then. Some are icy and non-surviving. ”
Related: The biggest meteor storms of all time
When cometic fragments enter the Earth’s atmosphere, scientists can observe how they decay, revealing information about their structure. Some of these fragments may have come from the depths of a comet, a world that astronomers could not reach by looking at an object with a telescope alone.
In addition, the possibility of a meteorite gives astronomers a rare opportunity to access cometary objects. After all, NASA had flown particle collection equipment through streams of meteorites to capture dust falling from the early days of the Solar System.
“Basically moving to and from a comet is like a space mission, except that the comet shot them here,” Rich said.
Follow us on Twitter Twitter embedding (Opens in a new tab) Or enabled Facebook (Opens in a new tab).
Prone to fits of apathy. Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Internet advocate. Avid travel enthusiast. Entrepreneur. Music expert.
