If you missed the previous meteor show, don’t worry, we’re expecting a special show on the night of August 31. According to Bob Moody, President of the Arkansas/Oklahoma Astronomical Society, a historical meteor shower is expected during the morning of September 1.
Earth is about to cross the dust trail of comet Kiess, a comet that takes some 2000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. The trail is very narrow, so Earth will be exposed to meteoroids for only about an hour and a half. The meteoroids will approach from the direction of the constellation Auriga, the charioteer, in the north-eastern part of the sky, causing a meteor shower called the “Aurigids.”
These meteors have been calculated to be from the year 4 A.D. This is your only chance to see this shower; the dust trail is not going to hit again in our lifetime.
