                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2022 June 1

               Tau Herculids Meteors over Kitt Peak Telescopes
      Image Credit & Copyright: Jianwei Lyu (Steward Obs., U. Arizona)

   Explanation: It wasn't the storm of the century -- but it was a night
   to remember. Last night was the peak of the Tau Herculids meteor
   shower, a usually modest dribble of occasional meteors originating from
   the disintegrating Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. This year,
   calculations showed that the Earth might be passing through a
   particularly dense stream of comet debris -- at best creating a storm
   of bright meteors streaking out from the constellation of Hercules.
   What actually happened fell short of a meteor storm, but could be
   called a decent meteor shower. Featured here is a composite image taken
   at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA accumulated over 2.5
   hours very late on May 30. Over that time, 19 Tau Herculids meteors
   were captured, along with 4 unrelated meteors. (Can you find them?) In
   the near foreground is the Bok 2.3-meter Telescope with the 4.0-meter
   Mayall Telescope just behind it. Next year, the annual Tau Herculids
   are expected to return to its normal low rate, with the next active
   night forecast for 2049.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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