The Earth will pass through the remnants of a comet late Monday night into Tuesday morning. The Tau Herculids shower has the potential to become a rare meteorite storm, producing an onslaught of at least 1,000 shooting stars per hour.
It could be a dud.
The comet is named after the two German astronomer who discovered it in 1930. NASA said in a statement that SW3 is breaking into dozens of pieces as it zips around the sun.
Experts say that when Earth passes through comet crumbs, they will burn up in our atmosphere and create a scattering of shooting stars.
Most of the best meteor showers are in the single figures. Next week's sky show could reach thousands of meteors per hour, making it a "meteor storm" as opposed to a shower, according to experts.
The comet is going to be an all-or-nothing event, according to Bill Cooke from NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. There will be no meteorites from this comet if the debris has slower ejection speeds.
The last meteorite storm to grace the heavens was in 1966 and lasted several hours.
According to EarthSky, people who watched the 1966 Leonid shower felt they had to clutch the ground so strong that they felt Earth moving through space.
The shower is named after the star of the same name because the meteors appear to come from there. The event next week is expected to be shorter than the shower.
It will be easier to view the stellar light show on a moonless night. The best time to view the display is between 12:45 and 1:17 a.m. On Tuesday, May, 31
The best view for stargazers will be in the Southwest US and Mexico, where the shower will be the highest in the night sky.
The society said on its website that it believes the event has a chance of being spectacular.
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