I had a successful observation night (May 30/31, 2022) at Balsam Provincial Park in the south-central area of Ontario! Accompanied by Shane Finnigan and Raymond Dubois. Skies about 6.1-6.3 mag overhead, but with lower-than-average transparency and very hazy horizons due to forest fire smoke. Saw several Tau Herculids, and a moderate outburst (in the ZHR 50-60 range I think) between 3-6 UT (23h-2am EDT) with a noticeable uptick in TAH activity around 4-5UT (which is close to the predicted time of outburst). All the Tau Herculids radiated from the expected radiant. But no major outburst or meteor storm. Number of bright meteors early in the night, mostly fainter ones later on. As the night went on, the shower subsided but remained more weakly active.
The Tau Herculids seemed to be very fragile, delicate meteoroids — many extremely short paths. The brighter ones often had multiple flares and terminal flashes. The brightest Tau Herculids reached -3 and displayed thick wakes that seemed “sparkly” (fragmentation).
Going through the observing data and images. Full report soon…
Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario
