基特峰望远镜上的Tau大力神流星
(原标题: Tau Herculid Meteors over Kitt Peak Telescopes)
2022-06-01
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这不是世纪风暴，但却是一个值得铭记的夜晚。昨晚是Tau大力神流星雨的高峰期，这是一种偶尔出现的少量流星，起源于解体的73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3号彗星。今年的计算表明，地球可能正在穿过一股特别密集的彗星碎片流——充其量也就是从大力神星座（Hercules）中产生一场明亮的流星风暴。实际发生的事情并不是一场流星雨，但可以被称为一场像样的流星雨。这是一张5月30日深夜在美国亚利桑那州基特峰国家天文台拍摄的合成图像，累积时间超过2.5小时。在此期间，捕获了19颗Tau大力神流星，以及4颗无关的流星。（你能找到他们吗？）靠近前景的是bok2.3米望远镜，后面是4.0米的Mayall望远镜。明年，一年一度的Tau Herculids预计将恢复到正常的低频率，下一次活跃的夜晚预计将在2049年出现。
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It wasn't the storm of the century -- but it was a night to remember. Last night was the peak of the Tau Herculid 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.
© Jianwei Lyu (Steward Obs., U. Arizona)