Meteor Activity Outlook for June 30-July 6, 2012

The following is a slightly edited version of Bob Lunsford’s excellent weekly summary of meteor activity. The original version can be found at the American Meteor Society’s site.

Meteor season finally gets going in July for the northern hemisphere. The first half of the month will be much like June. After the 15th though, both sporadic and shower rates increase significantly. For observers in the southern hemisphere, sporadic rates will be falling but the overall activity will increase with the arrival of the Delta Aquariids.

During this period the moon reaches its full phase on Tuesday July 3rd. At this time the moon will be located opposite of the sun and will rise as the sun sets and will set as the sun rises. This weekend the waxing gibbous moon will set near the start of morning twilight. One may get in an hour of decent viewing just before dawn but this disappears on Monday as the moon will remain above the horizon the entire night. The estimated total hourly meteor rates for evening observers this week is near two for observers in the northern hemisphere and three for those south of the equator. For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should be near four as seen from mid-northern latitudes and eight from mid-southern latitudes. The actual rates will also depend on factors such as personal light and motion perception, local weather conditions, alertness and experience in watching meteor activity. Rates are reduced during this period due to moonlight.

The radiant (the area of the sky where meteors appear to shoot from) positions and rates listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday morning June 30/July 1. These positions do not change greatly day to day so the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period.

The list below presents a condensed version of the expected activity this week. Details of each radiant will be posted again next week when moonlight is not as bad.

June Bootids (JBO)  15:02 (226) +47   Velocity – 18km/sec
Northern Hemisphere – <1 per hour   Southern Hemisphere – <1 per hour

f-Ophiuchids (FOP)  18:16 (274) +07   Velocity – 21km/sec
Northern Hemisphere – <1 per hour   Southern Hemisphere – <1 per hour

Antihelion (ANT) 19:28 (292) -21   Velocity – 30km/sec
Northern Hemisphere – 1 per hour   Southern Hemisphere – 2 per hour

c-Andromedids (CAN)  01:36 (024) +45   Velocity – 59km/sec
Northern Hemisphere – <1 per hour   Southern Hemisphere – <1 per hour

Clear Skies!

Robert Lunsford
American Meteor Society