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NAMN Notes: June 2005
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NAMN Notes is a monthly newsletter produced by the North American Meteor Network and is available both via email and on the NAMN website at: http://www.namnmeteors.org

1. June Bootids - A Surprise?...
2. Other June Showers...
3. Upcoming Meetings...
4. For more info...

Welcome to June! Summer is almost upon us, and this month brings the possibility of a meteor surprise for our early summer nights.

The June Bootids (JBO) reach a peak on June 27, with an estimated peak time within 6 hours of 8h UT according to the IMO, the International Meteor Organization.

These meteors are debris from Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke. The comet was discovered from Marseilles, France on June 12, 1819 by the famous comet hunter Jean Louis Pons. It was accidentally rediscovered on March 9th, 1858 by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke of Bonn, Germany. Both names were used for the comet. According to Gary Kronk, in his book 'Comets - A Descriptive Catalog':

"Johann Encke took special interest in the calculation of this comet's orbit - primarily because of his earliest calculation of an orbital period of just 2.3 years. He set out to calculate a definitive orbit to enable a future recovery and then obtained a period of 5.62 years. Despite Encke's thoroughness, his orbit did not allow a recovery at later returns and Comet Pons was considered lost... Orbital calculations not long after discovery indicated a possible relationship with Comet Pons...by the time the comet was last observed the comets were proved to be identical."

The June Bootids, debris from Comet Pons-Winnecke, can be observed from about June 26th until July 2nd. The ZHR rate for this meteor shower is classed as variable. What is ZHR? This stands for Zenithal Hourly Rate, and is the number of meteors that an observer would expect to see in an hour, on average, if they are out under a dark country sky, and if the radiant, the area in the sky where the meteors seem to come from, is directly overhead.

In 1998, there was an outburst with ZHR rates ranging from 50 to over 100 meteors per hour visible for over half a day. Will we get a surprise this year? We don't know. We need your observations this year in order to find out! Please try to make an effort to check out this shower for us and send us your meteor reports. Details on what to record are listed later in this month's newsletter.

The June Bootids are nice slow meteors with a velocity of about 18 km per second - so will be very distinctive. Even for novice observers, these meteors will stay visible long enough to make an impression.

The radiant at maximum will be at 224 degrees, ie. RA 14h 55.8m, Dec +48, which is about 8 degrees north of the star beta Bootes, the star known as Nekkar. To see a map of this radiant, check out http://www.imo.net/calendar/cal04.html#June-Bootids. For star charts to help you in identifying constellations and estimating the brightness of the meteors you see, go to http://www.namnmeteors.org/charts.html, set your printer to 'landscape' mode, and print yourself off a set of our 4 NAMN star charts to take out observing with you.

If you want to record data on this shower for the meteor researchers, check out our NAMN Observing Guide for information on what to record. Our Guide can be found at http://www.namnmeteors.org/guide.html. We record such info as the time a meteor occurred, its magnitude (brightness), the shower it belongs to, its speed, and other comments such as train left behind, or color. General information to record includes such things as how dark your perceived sky is (limiting magnitude) and comments on weather and cloud cover. If you have any questions, drop a note to our NAMN Coordinator at meteors@comcast.net

Forms to record your observations can be found at http://www.namnmeteors.org/namn_form.html and http://www.namnmeteors.org/appendixC.html

The Sagittarids (SAG) started to become active about April 15th and will last through until about July 15th. These are almost slow meteors at about 30 km per second. ZHR rates are about 5 meteors per hour. Coordinates for the radiant in June are as follows:

June 10   265   -23  ie. RA 17h 40.2m  Dec -23
June 15   270   -23  ie. RA 18h 00.0m  Dec -23
June 20   275   -23  ie. RA 18h 19.8m  Dec -23
June 25   280   -23  ie. RA 18h 40.2m  Dec -23
June 30   284   -23  ie. RA 18h 55.8m  Dec -23

Fireballs have been associated with the Sagittarids - so stay alert!

The June Lyrids, although not on the IMO "Working List of Visual Meteor Showers" this year, are worth monitoring. They are visible from about June 11th to 21st with a possible maximum on June 16th. The radiant is at 278 degrees, ie. RA 18h 31.8m, Dec +35. The meteors have an average magnitude of about 3. A map showing the radiant can be found at http://www.imo.net/calendar/cal04.html#June-Lyrids. These are almost slow meteors with a velocity of about 31 km per second. More information on this shower, and other minor showers, can be found on Gary Kronk's 'Comets & Meteor Showers' website at http://comets.amsmeteors.org

Besides June's main activity and other minor showers, there is also sporadic meteor activity - about 7 meteors per hour, visible to the unaided eye. Some of these are random and some belong to old untraceable meteor showers.

For radio meteor observers, daylight shower peak times are as follows:

Arietids        June  7  10h UT
zeta Perseids   June  9  10h UT
beta Taurids    June 28   9h UT

Planets at midmonth, and their magnitudes, for northern observers, are:

Venus      -3.8  low in west-northwest in evening twilight
Jupiter    -2.2  in Virgo
Mercury    -1.3  low in west-northwest in evening twilight
Saturn      0.2  in Gemini
Mars        0.2  in Pisces

On June 16th, Jupiter will be 0.4 degrees north of the moon for northern observers and an occultation by the moon will be visible for observers in Indonesia, the Philippines, northern Australia, Fiji, West Samoa, and New Zealand except for the southern tip. On June 20th, the bright star Antares will be 0.7 degrees south of the moon for northern observers, with an occultation visible from southeast Europe, most of the Arabian Peninsula, southern and central Asia, and the northern Philippines.

Some other interesting close encounters in June are:

June  5  Venus   0.06 degrees north of M35
June 25  Venus   1.3 degrees north of Saturn
June 26  Mercury 1.4 degrees north of Saturn
June 27  Mercury 0.08 degrees south of Venus
           (minimum separation 0.06 degrees at 16h UT)

Lastly, the phases of the moon for June are as follows:

Mon.  June  6     new moon
Wed.  June 15     first quarter
Wed.  June 22     full moon
Tues. June 28     last quarter

August 7-12, 2005, Brazil...
ACM 2005, the IAU Symposium 229: Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main topics of the conference will be space missions, internal structure of asteroids and comets, connections between asteroids, cometary nuclei and Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO's), connections between asteroids and meteorites, connections between comets, meteor showers and interplanetary dust, minor body dynamics, collisions and impacts, Near-Earth Objects (NEO's), origin and evolution of our Solar System and extra-solar planetary systems. The website for the conference is at http://www.on.br/acm2005. For more information, contact Daniela Lazzaro or Fernando Roig at acm2005@on.br

September 10-14, 2005, Belgium...
'Radio Meteor School 2005' will be held in Oostmalle, Belgium. This will be a five day tutorial on the physical and mathematical theory of radio meteor observations, given by Dr. Oleg Belkovich of Russia. This workshop is for serious radio meteor observers. The cost for the workshop is about 150 Euros. You must register before July 1st. For more information, check out the IMO website at http://www.imo.net/imc2005/radioschool.php and contact the organizers at imc2005@imo.net

September 15-18, 2005, Belgium...
The 2005 IMC, International Meteor Conference of the IMO, the International Meteor Organization, will be held in Oostmalle, Belgium. Oostmalle is about 70 km north of Brussels, and about 30 km northeast of Antwerp. The conference is being organized by Urania, the public observatory of Antwerp. Accommodation will be at the Provinciaal Vormingscentrum Malle, with an excursion to the city of Lier. This is a great opportunity to meet and chat with meteor observers from all around the globe - so mark it on your calendar now, and plan to attend! The participation fee is 120 EUR before June 1st (130 EUR after), and includes all accommodation, all meals, and the conference registration. Financial assistance is available in some cases. For information, check out the conference website at http://www.imo.net/imc2005. For questions, contact Jan Verbert at imc2005@imo.net

For information on upcoming astronomy meetings, see: "International Astronomy Meetings List" at http://cadcwww.hia.nrc.ca/meetings

NAMN email: namn@namnmeteors.org
NAMN website: http://www.namnmeteors.org

Mark Davis, meteors@comcast.net
Goose Creek, South Carolina, USA
Coordinator, North American Meteor Network

Cathy Hall, chall@cyberus.ca
Metcalfe, Ontario, Canada
Writer, NAMN Notes

Lew Gramer, dedalus@alum.mit.edu
Medford, Massachusetts, USA
Coordinator, Public Outreach
Owner/Moderator, 'MeteorObs'

Kevin Kilkenny, namnfireball@earthlink.net
Staten Island, New York, USA
Coordinator, Fireballs and Meteorites

Back issues of NAMN Notes can be found on-line at the NAMN website and in the MeteorObs archives at:
http://www.meteorobs.org
by selecting 'Browse Archive by Month'

To subscribe to the meteor email list or to find out information on our weekly chat sessions:
Contact Lew Gramer at:
dedalus@alum.mit.edu