[Meteorobs] Low level activity of Tau Herculids on June 1/2 2011

[Pierre Martin]

Hello all,

Last night I looked for possible meteors from 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann  
3.

Unfortunately, sky conditions were far from ideal.  I had long periods  
of time affected by fast moving low cloud cover and high winds.  The  
projected trail encounter at 1:45am EDT was completely clouded over.   
I did not see anything really unusual roughly 20 minutes prior to this  
time while the sky was still partly clear, but cannot confirm anything  
after that point.  During the clearer spells, however, the sky was  
very transparent (LM=6.5).

During the rather brief periods that the weather cooperated well  
enough to view earlier in the night, it appeared that the TAH (Tau  
Herculids) were active at a very low level.  I did see a gorgeous mag  
-1 golden-yellow TAH candidate move slowly over a long path to the  
east, below Lyra.  It had a thick wake following.  I got a good plot  
and found that its alignment, path length and speed all in good  
agreement.  It appears to line up perfectly with the radiant described  
in the latest Weekly Meteor Outlook.  I saw maybe a couple of other  
TAH candidates, including a highly foreshortened meteor near the  
zenith, but I'll have to check my plots more closely (with the  
understanding that the TAH radiant is likely a very diffuse one).

Will report in more details soon.

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario