Photo by Pianoman75.

Space nerds, this is cool: Scientists are saying that a possible new meteor shower, the May Camelopardalids, will be visible over North America this weekend. Yes, that includes D.C.

According to NASA, the May Camelopardalids has never been seen before, but the shower, which is predicted to be visible in D.C. at about 3:20 a.m. on Saturday morning, could “rival the prolific Perseid meteor shower in August.” Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through debris left by a comet, which means they’re not always a sure thing. Because comets are composed of mostly rock and ice, if they orbit too close to the Sun or a star, they can burn up and just turn into gas. But, if they don’t, the debris trail it leaves makes for a pretty cool spectacle. The problem is, it’s hard for scientists to tell just how much of a debris trail is composed of rocks and pebbles, and how much is burnt up into gas.

So just how visible will this meteor shower be? While it’s hard to tell for sure, “some forecasters have predicted a meteor storm of more than 200 meteors per hour,” Bill Cooke, lead for NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, says. “We have no idea what the comet was doing in the 1800s. The parent comet doesn’t appear to be very active now, so there could be a great show, or there could be little activity.”

Cooke will host a live web chat, along with a live Ustream from Huntsville, Al., on NASA’s website from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. on the night the meteor shower will be visible. For North Americans and D.C. residents, visibility by the naked eye will be high, “because their peak occurs during nighttime hours while the radiant is high in the sky.”