Observations of the 2022 Tau Herculid Meteor Shower
July 2022 :
Remnants of the shattered Comet 73/Schwassman-Wachmann produced a new meteor shower which peaked on May 31, 2022. Scientists were hopeful that a meteor storm might occur. This event was highly publicized on the internet to encourage as many observers as possible to witness and document this event.
Skyscraper member Greg Shanos who currently resides in Sarasota, Florida was called to duty. The moon was new and the weather conditions were less than ideal with partly cloudy skies. The radiant was near the bright star Arcturus which was located at the zenith when I started my observing session at 12:15am local time (4h 15m UT). The sky was over fifty percent cloudy with increasing cloudiness throughout the night. In spite of this I witnessed a bright mag -2 yellow colored meteor four minutes into my observation! The sky became increasingly cloudy and at 2:00am (6h00m UT) was completely overcast. I took a break and was about to call it a night. At 2:35am the sky cleared significantly and by 3:00 am it was perfectly clear! However, the radiant was much lower in the sky at only 50 degrees above the horizon. I continued my observing run and witnessed several more tau-Herculid meteors as well as sporadics. By 4:00 am (8h 00m UT) Arcturus was only 24 degrees above the horizon. I therefore concluded my observing run.
I witnessed a total of 9 tau-Herculid meteors and 4 sporadics. I took advantage of the clear skies and later imaged the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with my Meade LX200GPS 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
I documented all my meteor observations on the official International Meteor Observers form. I submitted the form to Robert Lunsford director of the International Meteor Organization (IMO) and Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). I encourage all amateur astronomers to get out there and observe in spite of non-ideal weather conditions, document their meteor observations and submit their findings to the IMO and ALPO.
A follow-up of the tau-Herculid meteor shower online indicated that a meteor storm did not occur however, there were several bright fireballs. This is exactly what I had witnessed.
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