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What if they held a meteor storm and no meteors came?
假如他们认为有流星风暴，而没有流星点亮夜空怎么办?
That's what many people are asking after the well-hyped May Camelopardalids meteor outburst turned out to be a dud.
就像现在一样，当被大肆宣传的五月份流星雨并没有如期而至时人们都在询问个中缘由。
Most meteors arise from mere dust grains and pebbles in space.
大多数流星来自于宇宙空间中的尘土颗粒和沙砾等微小颗粒。
When Earth passes through a stream of this debris shed by a comet, the particles burn up in our atmosphere, and we see a meteor shower.
当地球穿过彗星散落的一连串碎片时产生摩擦，这些微粒就在大气中燃烧起来，这就是我们看到的流星雨。
Some astronomers had predicted that on the night of May 23, particles from a comet called LINEAR would bring many meteors to the night sky.
一些天文学家预测5月23的晚上，来自彗星LINEAR的微小粒子将带来众多流星划破夜空。
North America had the best seats for the event.
北美是最佳观测位置。
And so a lot of people watched and waited.
所以很多人都在期盼天空，等待这一神奇天文现象出现。
But no one saw much.
但是人们并没有看到那么多。
Meteor showers are common, and the best produce about a hundred meteors per hour.
流星雨非常常见，而且每小时最多产生100多个流星。
But meteor storms, which can send out thousands of meteors per hour, are rare and notoriously unreliable.
但是流星风暴非常少见，而且很难预测，流星风暴每小时可以产生数以千计的流星。
Not only can predicted storms go bust, but great storms can erupt without warning.
流星风暴的预测不仅有可能失败，而且巨大的流星风暴常会毫无征兆的爆发。
In November 1966, the normally weak Leonids surprised everyone and roared back to life, producing more than 100,000 shooting stars in a single hour.
比如在1966年11月，通常比较微弱的狮子座流星群震撼了所有人，它在仅一小时内就产生了10万颗流星。
You can still count on astronomers to tell you exactly when the next eclipse will be.
你仍然可以指望天文学家告诉你下一次日蚀的确切时间。
But if they ever promise you a meteor storm, you should take it with a grain of, well, meteor dust.
但是如果他们承诺你会有流星风暴，你大可以不必相信。
