An outburst of the Tau Herculids meteor shower, caused by debris from the 1995 breakup of comet 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, peaks over North America.
73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, also known as Schwassmann–Wachmann 3, is a periodic comet in the Solar System that is in the process of disintegrating. Starting the 2011 perihelion passage the primary component 73P-C was recovered on 28 November 2010 near apparent magnitude 21.3; it came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 16 October 2011. It next comes to perihelion on 25 August 2022.
This spectacular meteor shower comes close on the heels of a near disaster event for our planet. 2022 GN1: A bus-sized asteroid will whoosh near Earth. The just-discovered asteroid will come within 79,000 miles of Earth. We’ve only just met asteroid 2022 GN1, and it’s already on its way out the door — but not before coming slightly closer than comfortable to Earth.