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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We might get an excellent meteor shower this year, but the Bootids seem to be very unpredictable. I had good views of the Leonids last year, let's hope that this one comes thru.

The Unpredictable June Bootids

Quick Facts:

The June Bootid meteor shower is active each year in late June. The next peak is expected on June 23rd around 0900 UT (2 a.m. CDT).

Normally the shower is weak, but occasional outbursts produce dozens to hundreds of meteors per hour.
The shower's radiant lies in the constellation Bootes (right ascension 14h 56m, declination 48o), best seen by observers in the northern hemisphere.
The source of the June Bootids is periodic comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke.

June Bootid meteoroids are slow. They hit Earth's atmosphere with a velocity of "only" 18 km/s (40,000 mph), and appear to move slowly compared to most meteors.

http://spaceweather.com./meteors/junebootids.html

comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/june_bootids.html

Courtesy of Spaceweather.com

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's interesting that the debris field of this comet's orbit is skewed quite obtusely to the plane of the planetary orbits. Also that the orbit of the comet lies within the orbits of the larger planets.

Funny name, I hope the show makes us smile.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Joe's Bootid Meteor Observation

It's 3:15 am Wednesday morning and I have just arrived home from Bootid meteor spotting, and report the following:

I started the observation session at 12:00 am and concluded at 2:15 am. The weather was clear and pleasant, but the translucency was not great. I viewed jointly with "Starrysungazer" and together we spotted about 8 meteors. Seemed like every time I brought the binoculars up to my eyes to view the Milky Way, one would shoot by.

The very first one was a bright one from Southeast to Northwest. That one was yellow in color and was long lasting. The remanding meteors were white and short in duration from due West to East mostly. One meteor shot across Cygnus from Northwest to Southeast and slightly yellow.

We saw two satellites whiz by. One sailed from due South to North and was incredibly bright and gold in color. It cut thru the Summer Triangle and the magnitude of the satellite was equivalent to the brightness of Deneb. I followed it for quite a bit with the naked eye and with binoculars before I lost it close to the horizon behind trees.

Overall, not a great meteor shower, but ok for an un-expected event. And not a single mosquito!

[stargazer]

Hi Joe,

It sounds like you had a good time. I know tonight we have showers coming in but I am going to get up t 3:30 to try to catch the peak. I will post if I get anything.

Becky