Scientists have observed an exceptional meteor shower
On 31 May 2022, an international team of scientists observed a meteor shower from the Tau Herculid swarm which was left behind by a comet which disintegrated 27 years ago. Their observations will give us an insight into the composition and dynamic processes of meteors.
Arizona was the place with the best observation geometry which is why the international team of scientists headed there to observe the phenomenon from a plane and the ground. Scientists from Australia, France, Germany and Slovakia participated in the observations. Our university was represented on the team by Juraj Tóth from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics. The shower was also observed by scientists elsewhere on our planet.
Simultaneous observations were made from ground stations at three pre-selected locations equipped with the mobile all-sky system, AMOS, or Automatic Meteor Orbit System, including spectral cameras operated by Tomáš Paulech of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics (AGO Modra, Slovakia) and Peter Vereš (Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, U.S.). Juraj Tóth coordinated both components in order to effectively combine the ground observations with observations made from an aircraft which flew over the site.
Scientists from the observatories in Banská Bystrica and Kysucké Nové Mesto also participated in the expedition with their own instruments and cooperated with the Vatican Observatory on Mt. Graham and the TAAA Association in Chiricaua, AZ.
The team of scientists now faces the time-consuming task of processing the records and analyzing the data.
The comet named "73P/Schwasschmann-Wachmann 3" was discovered in 1930. It disintegrated in 1995, and on 31 May of that year, its debris contacted the Earth's atmosphere. This is the first case in history when a meteor swarm from a disintegrated parent comet was successfully predicted and observed.