The Tau Herculids meteor shower produced by its parent comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, or SW3 peaks this Monday night for those in the DFW area. Discovered in 1930 SW3 orbits the sun every 5.4 years. It’s not a bright comet but it’s an interesting one at the moment given it’s potential for a meteor storm Monday.
In 1995, astronomers watched as this comet began to fracture and litter its orbit with a cocktail of rock, dust and ice debris. It’s fragments from this 1995 event as well as debris streams from 1897 and 1892 that COULD produce a meteor storm late Monday evening May 30, 2022. This is by no means a done deal. Several pieces of data point toward a possible meteor outburst and hope is high but we cannot be sure whether or not this will actually happen. If it does happen you’re going to want to see this for sure.
The peak for this shower and the possible meteor storm should occur in the minutes after midnight Monday night/ Tuesday morning May 30-31, 2022. More specifically 12:04 a.m. Tuesday morning May 31st. The good news is if this event happens, those in the U.S. and more specifically in the southwestern U.S. are ideally situated to view this event given their location on the planet and the fact that the Moon’s phase is new and so it’ll be good and dark for meteor watching.
The Tau Herculids meteor shower’s radiant or the point in the sky where these meteors appear to originate if you traced their paths back to their origin provides an interesting story. Typically, meteor showers are named for their radiant’s location. This poses a bit of a problem for Tau Herculids because the radiant has wandered from it’s original location from when the comet was first observed back in 1930. This happened due to the gravity of the planet Jupiter. The radiant is now in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman very near the globular cluster M3.
As an interesting side note regarding M3 you may recall it was Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) that passed very close to M3 back in early December 2021. But back to SW3, if you find the Big Dipper’s handle almost overhead at the zenith these late Spring nights and arc off the handle you’ll come to the beautiful bright orange star Arcturus. The radiant for the Tau Herculids is roughly between the end of the dipper’s handle and Arcturus. Knowing the location of the radiant is not necessary to enjoy the shower/storm. If there is a storm, and you have a dark sky to observe it from, there will be no doubt where the radiant is located.
There is no way to know the rate at which the meteors will occur. The Tau Herculids are typically a minor shower that don’t get discussed much like other dominant showers such as the Perseids in August or the Leonids in November. Should a meteor storm occur it’s possible the rate could be as high has 40 meteors per second which would be a spectacular thing to see. Let’s hope that’s the case!
Some meteor watching tips that will make your experience more enjoyable. 1) Get to a dark sky. I can’t stress this enough. If you live in a major city where you are lucky if you can only see a handful of stars at night you will need to travel away from the lights to enjoy this event (should it happen!). Additionally, make sure you arrive and get settled at least 20-30 minutes prior to the predicted peak which is 12:04 a.m. on Tuesday morning May 31st for the north Texas area. Extinguish all lights. This will allow you time to get dark adapted. 2) Since the radiant will be high in the sky at the time of the peak you’ll want a lounge chair (something that reclines) so you can take in as much of the sky as possible with your eyeballs. It’s not necessary to look at the radiant itself. Remember the meteors will appear to originate from there but could be seen anywhere in the sky. 3) Don’t forget the creature comforts like something to drink, snacks, a blanket, music, bug spray, binoculars, etc.
Here’s hoping for a midnight meteor outburst/storm this Monday night!
Clear skies,
Scott
So the Tau Herculids meteor shower didn’t disappoint for those with the proper expectations. There was a marked uptick in activity but unfortunately there was not an outburst, much less a storm this time around. As is often the case these types of predictions don’t come to fruition. Astronomers use the best data available to predict the outcome and it just doesn’t pan out. It’s for this reason that I tried to stress in my posts that this “could” be one result but was not certainly a done deal. Not all but some press outlets hyped the possibility of an outburst which led many people to naturally think this that was “going” to happen. That is another unfortunate result and doesn’t serve the hobby well. At least with a “super moon” event the moon will still be there (weather permitting). I’m not going to get on my soapbox about labeling a full moon occurring at its perigee a super moon. I think I’ve said enough on that in past posts.
Anyway, onward and upward. If the Tau Herculids only left you thirsty for more meteors then surely the next “big shower” should step up and quench that thirst right? Well, don’t get to excited. The next major meteor shower that we’d be patiently waiting for is the Perseids in August. The Perseids are a much better performer and typically do not disappoint, however this year the Perseids happen smack dab in the middle of a full moon. And no, August’s full moon is not a super moon. So this year’s remaining larger meteor showers including the Orionids in late October, the Leonids in mid-November and the Geminids in mid-December all have some aspect of the Moon’s involvement which equates to less than ideal conditions. However, your best bet is probably going to be the Orionids and/or Leonids. So hang in there, more meteors are on the way as long as you keep looking up.