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Best meteor shower in years could light up our sky overnight and into the morning hours

One of the best meteor showers could take place Monday night, but it will be brief if it happens at all.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Monday night we could have one of the best meteor showers in our skies in years and the weather looks like it should be great for viewing it.

The catch is, it’s not a guarantee. 

On Monday night into Tuesday morning, the earth will cruise through debris trail of comet 73P Schwassman-Watchmann creating the Tau Herculids Meteor Shower. The comet broke apart in 1995 and now is a countless collection of small particles. The earth crossing paths with this is not 100%, according to the American Meteor Society the best chance to view it though will be between 12:45AM and 1:17AM. You will want to look towards the Hercules Constellation.

Best case scenario, this meteor shower could rival the famous Leonid meteor shower in 1966 that brought as many as 40 meteors per minute. On the other hand, worst case scenario, is the earth misses these fragments and nothing happens.

To best view this meteor shower or any for that matter, get as far away from artificial light as possible, and try to avoid looking at your phone screen and allow your eyes adjust to the dark. 

Before heading out though check the latest weather forecast from First Coast News.

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