A new meteor shower could put on a dazzling display this Memorial Day weekend in Costa Rica. In what Space.com calls “perhaps the most dramatic sky event of 2014.”, Earth is expected to travel through a large number of trails left behind by comet P/209 LINEAR in the early hours of Saturday
According to Space.com’s Joe Rao, “This unusual cosmic interaction might result in an amazing, albeit brief, display of meteors, popularly known as ‘shooting stars’. There could be many dozens, or even hundreds, of meteors per hour.”
An exciting addition to this weekend’s festivities in Costa Rica, the shower will peak between midnight and 2 am – According to Erick Sanchez, instructor at the Planetarium at the University of Costa Rica.
Witness Over 100 Meteors During this Saturday’s Meteor Shower
While a normal meteor show will have an average of 50 meteors, this time Costa Ricans will be able to appreciate at least 100 meteors, Sanchez said.
However, the Environment Office at NASA’s Meteoroid estimated an hourly average of 200 stars. A video made by the University of Huelva, in Spain, estimated that average could exceed 1,000 meteors.
The Planetarium instructor recommended to those who want to see the show do it in a dark place, ideally outside the city.
The National Meteorological Institute indicates that most of the country will have partly cloudy skies.
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)