Tau Herculids from Space

On May 31, tens of parallel meteor streaks were recorded in this 8 degree wide field of view of planet Earth’s limb from space. The image is one of a series of 5 minute long observations by the orbiting Yangwang-1 space telescope.

It was captured at 03:43 UT, near the peak of the Tau Herculid meteor shower. As predicted, the meteor shower was an active one this year, caused as Earth swept through a relatively dense stream of debris from disintegrating Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, but was lacking bright meteors.

Nearly all of the Tau Herculid meteors in the Yangwang-1 image are too faint to be detected by groundbased instruments. But on that date, patient earthbound skywatchers under clear skies still enjoyed a memorable showing of the Tau Herculids.

This remarkable observation is an excellent example of celestial events witnessed from both deep space and the night sky, highlighting one of the many astronomical wonders accessible through modern astrophotography.