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June has two possible minor meteor showers, the June Lyrids and the June Bootids. It also has a special shower, the Arietids.
The June Lyrids peak on June 16 with an hourly rate of around 0 to 3 per hour. In recent years, activity from this shower has been low and in some years, no activity has been observed at all. Even if there might be activity to observe, in 2006 light from the 61% illuminated Moon will make possible observations of the June Lyrids virtually impossible.
The June Bootids peak on June 27 and have an hourly rate between 0 and 100. Yes, that wide range is correct. In some years there is no activity and in other years there can be much activity. It's a bit of a gamble, but worth trying in most years if you have the spare time. Unfortunately the 65% illuminated Moon will offer a lot of interference for the June Bootids in 2006.
In addition to these showers, there is an unusual observing opportunity, the Arietids. The Arietids will peak on the morning of June 7th. What makes the Arietids so unusual is the fact that the shower's radiant is fairly close to the Sun and rises only 45 minutes or so before sunrise, making this a "daytime" shower.
Even though the radiant is close to the Sun, a few slow, bright meteors might just be seen in the hours near dawn. These meteors will be coming in almost horizontally, so they will originate very low in the northeast and may streak upwards. Even if you don't get a chance to observe these meteors visually, you can listen to them on the WWW courtesy of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Naval Space Surveillance Radar (NAVSPASUR) in Kickapoo, TX. The listening will be best during the hours around dawn in Huntsville and in Texas. This will be between the hours of 4 AM EDT (3 AM CDT, 2 AM MDT, 1 AM PDT) and 11 AM EDT (10 AM CDT, 9 AM MDT, 8 AM PDT). The Arietids peak also occurs within a few hours of these listening times, so 2006 is a good year to listen for these meteors.
You can access these audio streams by clicking the links below. You will need some kind of player to listen to these streams. WinAmp works nicely for this and RealPlayer will work also.
NASA Forward Scatter Radar - Audio Stream
Naval Space Surveillance Radar - Audio Stream
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