He announces the arrival of the summer solstice for the north and the winter solstice for the south, as well as the Strawberry Moon, but among the most striking phenomena of June will be the Arietids and Bootids, a pair of meteor showers that will cross the celestial vault.
Arietid meteor shower for June 2023
The Arietids are one of the most active showers of the entire year, with about 60 meteors per hour. They receive their name thanks to the constellation of Aries, since its radiant point is exactly between this constellation and that of Perseus. However, both constellations are close to the sun and therefore, meteors are only observed in the hours closest to dawn.
Annually they extend from May 22 to July 2, but within that time window, there is a specific day where the radiant is placed in the perfect place so that they shine brighter. In 2023, The highest point will be between the night of June 10 and the early morning of the 11th.
The Moon will be in its last quarter and although its entire disk will not be illuminated, it will be close to the constellation of Arias, so it is possible that its brightness will overshadow the faintest meteors. But even so, you will be able to see the brightest cars crossing in the sky.
To see it, you must look for optimal conditions in and out of light pollution. I looked toward the sky in the early hours of June 11, a few hours before dawn. You don’t need to be in Aries to be dazzled by the dozens of stars, just look up at the celestial dome with clear skies.
It is unknown which is the parent body of the Arietids, but it is believed that its fragments come from 1566 Icarus, although there is a group of astronomers who believe that due to their trajectory they are rather consistent with comet 96P/Machholz.
Bootids of June 2023
The Bootids are the second meteor shower that will occur in June 2023. They run annually from June 22 to July 2, although like the other meteor showers, they have a specific day where they reach their highest point. During June 2023, The maximum activity will occur between the night of the 27th and the early morning of the 28th.
Although if you want to see a big shower, you’d better take advantage of the Arietids, since the Bootids only have an hourly zenith rate of 1 or 2 meteors per hour. Although there is a small chance that more than 100 meteors will be seen as part of the Bootids, because they have occasional bursts. The last of them occurred in 1998 when it reached an hourly zenith rate of more than 100 meteors.
According to the, the The parent body of the Bootids is comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke. which orbits the Sun once every 6.37 years. The comet follows an elliptical path that takes it from a point close to Earth’s orbit to just beyond Jupiter’s orbit. Pons-Winnecke last visited the inner solar system in 2002. The comet’s dusty trail is evidently lumpy, and when our planet passes through the meteor hive, the meteor shower explodes.