A meteor storm, which could be one of the biggest seen since the 19th century, is forecast for the dawn of this Tuesday (31). In Brazil, the North and Center-West regions are the places with the greatest ease of observation of the phenomenon.
A meteor storm is a shower of celestial bodies with some peculiarities. According to Bramon (Brazilian Meteor Monitoring Network), these storms occur when there is a fragmentation of a comet or asteroid. The event results in several particles being ejected, forming dense clouds of these materials in space.
Lauriston Trindade, who has been part of Bramon since 2015 and has a meteor monitoring station in Maranguape, Ceará, explains that this storm involves the flow of more than 1,000 meteors per hour. The rains have a smaller amount, with an average of 100 meteors per hour.
“The terminology meteor storm indicates that it will be a very intense event. The expectation is that there are thousands of meteors per hour”, he adds.
According to Trindade, the intensity of the event must be so high that the last time something of this level occurred was in November 1833, almost two centuries ago.
In the case of this storm that occurs this morning — called Tau Herculídeas —, the object that broke up was comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann.
Trindade says that the comet was discovered in 1930 and was considered uninteresting because it was too small. But the scenario changed in 1995. That year, astronomers were following the comet and saw something different.
“They realized that its core had broken and it fragmented into four blocks. This caused a lot of material to be launched into space”, he says.
In 2006, something even stranger was observed: the four pieces had fragmented in 68. “A lot of dust and material was thrown into space. The expectation is that [na madrugada de 31 de maio] Earth crosses the densest part of this cloud of material that was released when the comet broke up,” he says.
Observation in the states
In Brazil, it will be possible to see the storm partially. The North and Center-West regions are the most privileged: according to Bramon, it is estimated that these locations have an average observation between 30% and 50% of the maximum expected. For other regions of the country, the average should be between 10% and 30%.
The value seems small, but it can still be a peculiar phenomenon. Bramon estimates that, in an ideal scenario with 100,000 meteors per hour, residents of the states of Acre, Roraima and part of Amazonas will be able to view up to 57,000 of the celestial bodies.
In this same ideal scenario, inhabitants of Amapá, Rondônia, parts of Pará, Amazonas and Mato Grosso will be able to observe an average of 42 thousand meteors.
Most of the state of São Paulo is at the rate with the least observation — under the best possible conditions, São Paulo will see about 9,000 meteors.
when and how to see
Seeing an event like this is quite simple, as it does not require any specific equipment. Still, some tips can help.
According to Bramon, the interesting thing is to position yourself in a place that allows you to easily observe the sky, such as backyards, gardens and balconies. Another very important piece of advice is to choose places without lighting, as it is easier to observe the meteors.
Also, it is important to pay attention to the schedule. Bramon claims that around midnight (Brasilia time) a first meteor outbreak will occur. Then, around 2 am, another moment will occur, with greater intensity. Therefore, the organization recommends greater attention from around 11 pm on the 30th to around 3 am on the 31st.
Even if there is great anticipation for the storm, the visual impact is uncertain. “We don’t know how fast the particles were launched or how much. So it could be something dizzyingly strong, as it could be something weaker”, says Trindade.
