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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 3711      2022 Jun 03 19.30UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074
INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK      Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk
WORLD WIDE WEB                         http://www.theastronomer.org
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TAU HERCULID METEOR SHOWER 2022

Further to the alert on TA E-Circular 3709

P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute reports that a meteor outburst of tau
Herculids from the encounter with the 1995 debris of comet
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann was observed much as anticipated (cf. CBET 5125).
The global networks of the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS)
low-light video survey measured the orbit of 2244 tau Herculid meteors for
the date of 2022 May 31).

The shower peaked on May 31d04h42m +/- 25m UT (corresponding to solar
longitude 69.436 +/- 0.017 deg, equinox J2000.0), with forecasts ranging
from 3h52m to 5h01m UT.  For visual observers, the peak zenith hourly rate
was about 40 tau Herculid meteors per hour at that time (see the website of
the International Meteor Organization.  The peak lasted from about 1h30m to
9h00m UT (solar longitude 69.30-69.61 degrees), with a duration of 3.5 hours
(full-width-at-half-maximum).  Meteors radiated from a median geocentric
radiant at R.A. = 209.17 +/- 0.09 deg, Decl. = +28.21
+/- 0.07 deg, with a 1-sigma dispersion of 3.4 and 2.8 degrees, 
+respectively,and geocentric velocity 12.01 +/- 0.09 km/s.  The predicted
values were R.A. = 209 deg, Decl. = +28 deg, with geocentric velocity 12.1
km/s, in good agreement.  As expected, the shower was rich in faint meteors.
The number of video-detected meteors from all CAMS networks with peak
brightness from magnitude -2 to +5 in one-magnitude increments was 20, 48,
172, 380, 461, 277, 120, and 3 tau Herculids, corresponding to a
magnitude-distribution index of N(m+1)/N(m) = 3.79 +/- 0.12 (where m is the
magnitude).

CBET 5126 (extract)


Guy M Hurst

