Bootid
Meteor Shower Could be Quite a Show
Few
places in the country are as good as Arizona for stargazing.
Tonight
and tomorrow night (June 26 and 27 2004) there is a chance for
have a good display from the Bootid meteor shower.
Normally,
the month of June is not noted for any major meteor showers.
However, six years ago, during the final weekend of June 1998,
sky watchers worldwide were caught off guard by an unexpected
shower of bright meteors and fireballs.
In
Japan, there were reports of meteors that were visible even through
heavily overcast skies. Reports from visual observers in other
regions suggested that this surprise meteor display produced meteor
rates of anywhere from 50 to 100 per hour and lasted more than
half a day.
Bursts
of June meteor activity were noted many decades ago, in 1916,
1921 and again in 1927. Because the meteors seemed to fan-out
from a region of the sky near the northern border of the constellation
of Bootes , (BOO- tez ) the Herdsman, they became popularly
known as the "June Bootids ."
If
you plan to look for the June Bootids tonight or tomorrow night
here in Arizona, go to a dark area and let your eyes adjust to
the darkness. Keep in mind that the constellation of Bootes will
be excellently positioned as it gets dark. It will appear nearly
overhead and high up in the northern sky and will stay in view
through the night as it descends toward the northwest. The
Moon will be a rather wide crescent and not set until after 1:30
a.m. so there may be some good early morning viewing here in Arizona.
ed@azalmanac.com
For
even more information go to: http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/junebootids.html
Image
courtesy of spaceweather.com
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