There are still tons of mysteries in the universe, and the Booids meteor shower is one of them. The upcoming meteor shower occurs during the last week of June and the first few days of July, and has the potential to be one of the weakest or strongest meteor showers of the year. How’s that for the non-committal?
The Bootids meteor shower officially runs from June 22 to July 2, peaking on the evening of June 26 and the morning of June 27. Its 10-day run is among the shortest of any meteor shower.
The Bootids are also one of the most unpredictable meteor showers of the year in terms of how many visible meteors they can produce. It is very inactive during most years and produces about one or two meteors per hour during its peak. However, Booids are known to have random explosions, where they produce large amounts of meteors such as large meteor showers.
The most recent such event was in 2004, and other big years include 1998, 1927, 1921 and 1916. The Booids meteor shower of 1998 is legendary, with reports of 100 meteors per hour. That’s as many as the Perseids, which are arguably the most famous meteor shower of the year, and up there with other active showers like the Geminids and Quadrantids.
Since science hasn’t figured out how to reliably predict these eruptions, any year could be the next big one.
The constellation Boötes will be high in the southern sky just after sunset on June 26.
How to identify bootids
All meteor showers take their name from the constellation in which they appear, an area known as the radiant. For the Booids, that is the constellation Boötes.
Boötes sits high in the southern sky and will be visible shortly after sunset on June 26. It is visible throughout the night, entering the western sky overnight before settling on the western horizon before sunrise. If you’re having trouble finding it, a night sky map like Stellarium or Time and Date can help you find it.
Follow the general tips for spotting any meteor shower. You want to escape the city and suburbs to reduce noise pollution. (The month of June will be almost 90% full on June 26, which means you can’t escape all light pollution.)
Everything is easy from there. Get comfortable, don’t use bright lights, and avoid magnifying devices like binoculars and televisions, as they obstruct your view and may cause you to miss the meteor.
How many meteors will produce Booids?
Your guess is as good as anyone’s. The Bootids meteor shower typically produces one or two small meteors per hour.
However, these meteors are known to be slow, bright and long-lived, so the few that may appear should be easy to see, even when the June moon is almost full.
But earlier bursts of up to 100 meteors per hour surprised astronomers. Anything could happen.
Why are bootids so hard to predict?
Every meteor shower has a parent body, such as a comet or asteroid, that leaves a trail of dust and debris. The Earth moves through those dust and debris lanes, and they enter the atmosphere and produce meteor showers.
Most comets and asteroids leave a pretty consistent trail, leading to consistent meteor showers. You can count on the Perseids to put on a decent show almost every year.
The bootids meteor shower is like any other. Its comet, called 7P/Pons-Winnecke, orbits the sun every 6.3 years and is strongly affected by Jupiter’s gravitational pull.
The difference is that 7P/Pons-Winnecke leaves a flexible, uneven trail of debris. When the Earth moves through this path, it may pass through a weak phase, producing only a few meteors, or a strong phase, producing dozens or more per hour. There’s no way to know for sure, you’ll just have to see for yourself.
