APOD: 2022 June 1 - Tau Herculids Meteors over Kitt Peak Telescopes

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the June 1st edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "Tau Herculids Meteors over Kitt Peak Telescopes." The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is located ~55 miles west-southwest of Tuscon in the Arizona Sonoran Desert. The Herculids are an annual meteor shower created as the Earth passes through the debris trail left by Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. Astronomers Friedrich Carl Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann of the Hamburg Observatory, Bergedorf, Germany discovered this comet on May 2, 1930. Its orbital period is 5.43-5.46 years. This 2 1/2 hour exposure was taken on the night of May 30th. Mouse over the image on the APOD page to orient yourself; the Big Dipper is slightly left of center with its handle pointing up to the top of the image.