The Daytime Beta Taurids meteor shower
Key facts
- Peak
- around 28 June
- Active
- early June to mid-July
- Rate at peak (ZHR)
- moderate on radio; very few seen by eye
- Speed
- 29 km/s
- Radiant
- Taurus (near the border with Orion, close to the Sun in the sky)
- Parent body
- The Taurid complex (linked to comet 2P/Encke)
Dates shift slightly from year to year. This year's peak is in the events calendar.
The Daytime Beta Taurids are the second of the two June showers that Earth meets as it crosses the Taurid stream on the sunward side. They peak at the end of June, and their radiant is so close to the Sun that the shower is practically invisible to the eye.
The Taurid complex. The Beta Taurids are part of the same family of meteoroids as the Daytime Zeta Perseids and the night-time Northern and Southern Taurids of autumn. The best-known member of the complex is comet 2P/Encke, which circles the Sun every 3.3 years. Encke's orbit and the meteoroid stream around it are very old, and the stream has spread into a broad, many-branched river of dust and larger debris.
Tunguska and the Moon. The Beta Taurids attract interest because of two events. On 30 June 1908, an object exploded in the air over Tunguska in Siberia and flattened about 2,000 square kilometres of forest. In 1978 the Slovak astronomer Ľubor Kresák suggested that the object might have been a fragment of comet Encke, arriving from the direction of the Beta Taurids. The idea is possible but unproven, and many researchers think the Tunguska body was a stony asteroid. Separately, in late June 1975, seismometers left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts recorded an unusual cluster of impacts, which has been linked to large Taurid meteoroids striking the Moon.
What to expect. By eye, very little. A few Beta Taurids may appear as earthgrazers low in the east before dawn. Radio observers can detect the shower, peaking around 28 June.
Why it matters. Some researchers suggest that the Taurid stream contains denser swarms of larger objects. If so, the June encounters, when the material arrives from the Sun's direction, would be the hardest to watch. Searching this part of the stream with telescopes and cameras is an active field.
Viewing. From the UK, the bright June twilight almost rules out visual observation. Radio is the practical choice.
Viewing tips
- Use radio detection; the peak is around 28 June.
- Scan the eastern sky low before dawn for long earthgrazing trails.
- Stop well before sunrise and never look towards the Sun.
- Compare late June radio counts with early July to see the shower fade.
- Follow the autumn Taurids for the night-time side of the same stream.
Read about the parent: Comet Encke, and the other comets behind meteor showers.