Tau Herculids
|
Meteor shower Tau-Herkuliden |
|
|---|---|
| activity | |
| Beginning | May 19th |
| The End | June 19th |
| Radian position | |
| RA | 15 h 44 m |
| DE | + 41 ° |
| ZHR | 2 |
The Tau Herculids are a meteor shower that is active from May 19th to June 19th. This meteor shower, whose original body is comet 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann , usually has a low activity of about 2 meteors per hour . The best time to observe is the first half of the night, as its radian is almost at the zenith from Central European latitudes .
When the comet 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann was discovered in 1930, the preliminary results of the comet's orbit determined that an increased number of meteors was possible. During observations on June 9, 1930, 59 meteors were sighted in one hour and on June 10, 36 meteors were sighted in 30 minutes. The radian was at a right ascension of 15h44m and a declination of + 41 °. In later years, however, only a few Tau Herculids were sighted.
In May 2006 73P / Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 passed Earth's orbit in just under 0.07 AU . Although this distance was actually too great for increased activity, the current was carefully observed due to the breakage of the original body. However, only a low rate of Tau Herculids has been recorded.
However, forecasts for the years 2022 and 2049 suggest that the rates could be considerably higher, as the earth's orbit intersects with comet material released earlier by Schwassmann-Wachmann 3.
literature
- Stars and space , spectrum of science , issue 6/2006, Heidelberg, ISSN 0039-1263
