The source of the putative shower is Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1), a mysterious "long-period comet" that has visited the inner solar system only twice in the past two thousand years. In 83 BC, give or take a few centuries, Comet Kiess swung by the sun and laid down a trail of dusty debris that has been drifting toward Earth's orbit ever since. On Sept. 1, 2007, the dusty trail and Earth will meet. Read more
On 1 September, the Earth will pass through an extremely fine band of dust and other debris left behind by Kiess when it passed the sun, way back in 83BC, which will light up the skies as the pieces tear into the atmosphere.
The best view of the meteors will be from the west coast of North America, before dawn on September 1. Based on past showers, there should be up to 200 bright meteors visible per hour, and they may have an unusual blue-green colour. The shower probably won't return for at least 50 years. It's a once in a lifetime event. Source
A rare meteor shower predicted to hit Earth on 1 September should give astronomers only their second chance to study an ancient comet's crust. It could also help them develop a warning system against an otherwise insidious threat a comet aimed at Earth from the dark fringes of the solar system. September's shower, called the alpha Aurigids, has only been seen three times before, in 1935, 1986 and 1994. The reason for this elusiveness is the shower's unusual origin.
This coming September 1st at about 11:36 ± 20 minutes UT (4:36 am PDT) the Earth will be passing through the dust trail of Comet Kiess, the only known case of crossing the dust trail of a known long-period comet in our lifetime. It'll create an impressive meteor shower called the Aurigids, since the meteors will appear around the constellation Auriga. The shower will be visible from California, Oregon, Hawaii and the Eastern Pacific, with best viewing towards the East and NorthEast.
The peak of the Alpha-Aurigids is predicted to occur at 11:37 GMT. Observers in Eastern Asia are in an excellent position to view it. Unfortunately the shower comes during daylight for Europe and much of North America. However, Western United States and Canada, as well as much of Alaska and Hawaii will still be in pre-dawn darkness. A gibbous Moon, four days past full, could interfere with observing. But many of the meteors are expected to be very bright.
"So, maybe the moon does not make very much harm in the observations ... I hope" - Peter Jenniskens, NASA's SETI Institute in California.
The Aurigid meteor shower in 2007 may be spectacular.
The prediction is found in a technical report, co-written by two astronomers who are targeting Sept. 1, 2007 as the date for the potential display. The meteors are called "Aurigids" because they appear to radiate from the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. The Meteor shower occur whenever the Earth passes through the dusty debris left behind by the Comet Kiess, which was last seen in 1911. Dense trails of dust travel along the orbit of the comet. Earth has had come close to a few of the se dusty clouds in 1935, 1986 and 1994, that produced increased meteor activity. The comet takes approximately 2,500 years to orbit the sun
The astronomers Esko Lyytinen of Finland and Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in California have predicted that the earth will pass very close to the centre of a dust trail, in 2007 which would result in "a spectacularly rich shower of bright meteors." No one is certain how strong next year's Aurigids may be, but on Friday, Jenniskens will make an announcement at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Prague concerning an "Aurigid Meteor Storm" of Sept. 1, 2007. Meteor storms are typically said to involve at least 1,000 meteors per hour, a rate sometimes achieved only in 15-minute bursts. It is not clear what sort of hourly rate Jenniskens will announce as his prediction.