A rare meteor shower might peak like a storm if Earth passes through the debris trails of a broken comet from the night of May 30 to the early morning of May 31, according to NASA.

The meteor shower – tau Herculid shower – is a newcomer this year that comes from its parent comet named 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, or short as SW3.

What to expect and how to watch

NASA said that the shower could be a "hit or miss" as it depends on how fast the fragments of the broken comet travel.

"This is going to be an all or nothing event," said Bill Cooke, who leads NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "If the debris from SW3 was traveling more than 220 miles per hour (or 354 kilometers per hour) when it separated from the comet, we might see a nice meteor shower. If the debris had slower ejection speeds, then nothing will make it to Earth, and there will be no meteors from this comet."

If it does occur as calculated, the sky will be moon-free as the new moon comes on May 30, and observers on the Western Hemisphere of Earth will have the best chance of seeing the tau Herculid shower. 

For people in North America, just pull out your beach chair and lay back under clear, dark skies. Be sure to keep your eyes open around 1 a.m. on the East Coast or 10 p.m. on the West Coast.

However, people in China can try to watch the shower at night early or after.

"You won't be seeing as many shooting stars as it is on its peak, but it is expected to be hundreds of them each hour or more," said Xiu Lipeng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society.

The mysterious SW3

SW3 was first discovered in 1930, and it orbits the Sun every 5.4 years. However, it was so faint that it wasn't seen again until the 1970s. Then in 1995, astronomers realized that the comet had broken into several pieces and became much more visible to the naked eye during its passage.

SW3 has since then continued shattering its own orbital trail with debris.

The fragments of the comet which formed the meteor shower got their name from the point in the sky where they first appeared to radiate. 

A 2001 study of the SW3 comet published in the Journal of International Meteor Organization said that there was a short-lived meteor outburst that might be related to the comet.

Oddly enough, observers have never seen any meteors from this comet radiate from the location of tau Herculid in our sky.

If it does occur, the meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Boötes, about 6 degrees north-northwest of the bright star of Arcturus, according to EarthSky.org.

Whether for the meteor storm to happen or not, any time spent under the sky won't be wasted.

Or, you can try out your luck with the quiz below to commemorate this unique meteor shower!