June Bootids meteor shower
The June Bootids meteor shower will peak during the night of June 26 into June 27. This is a very, very fickle meteor shower. Most years it features very little activity; however, there have been rare years when it produces like the Perseids with 100+ meteors per hour.
Once such outburst occurred in 1998, and to a bit lesser extent in 2004, but 6 years later, it was a dud in 2010. Six more years later, here we are. No one really knows how active the shower will be. The International Meteor Organization pegs the activity as somewhere between 0 and 100 per hour. (We know, that is quite the range) In addition, they are one of the leading sources of meteor shower activity prediction. The IMO feels like the meteors will be so small and will have to battle moonlight, making them very hard to see. View the entire 2016 IMO meteor shower calendar here.
None the less, the peak is predicted to occur at 11 p.m. EDT, June 26. (Sunday night) The radiant point is in an ideal location for viewing in the Northern Hemisphere. It will be nearly overhead.
There has not been an active meteor shower for some time, so this will be worth a look just in case it turns active. This shower is fueled by Comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke, which orbits the sun every 6 years.
Viewing ConditionsSummer is a great time to explore astronomy. Skies tend to be much clearer than on wintery nights. Sunday night will be no different. There will be a cold front moving through the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, but even there the clouds should be scattered. Most other locations will be clear.
North America
Europe/Asia
Unfortunately, the radiant point is too far north for meteors to be visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
We are less than two months away from arguably the best meteor shower of the year, the Perseids.
Here is another great source for meteor shower descriptions. Check out the American Meteor Society meteor shower calendar of 2016.
Thanks for reading and just look up, you never know what you will see!
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