The Daytime Zeta Perseids meteor shower

Key facts

Peak

around 9 June

Active

late May to early July

Rate at peak (ZHR)

strong on radio; very few seen by eye

Speed

29 km/s

Radiant

Near the border of Perseus and Taurus (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 Zeta Perseids are a major daylight shower that arrives in early June, at the same time as the Daytime Arietids. Together the two produce some of the strongest radio meteor activity of the year.

Discovery. Like the Arietids, the Zeta Perseids were discovered by radar at Jodrell Bank in 1947. Their radiant is close to the Sun, west of it in the sky, so it rises shortly before dawn and is overhead in the middle of the day.

Part of the Taurid complex. The Zeta Perseids are linked to the Taurid complex, a broad family of meteoroids that also produces the Northern and Southern Taurids in October and November. The best-known body in the complex is comet 2P/Encke, which has the shortest period of any bright comet, about 3.3 years. The Taurid meteoroids form a wide, slowly evolving stream. Earth passes through it twice a year: in autumn on one side of the Sun, when we see the Taurids at night, and in June on the other side, when the meteoroids approach from the Sun's direction. The June encounters give the Daytime Zeta Perseids and, later in the month, the Daytime Beta Taurids.

What to expect. Visual observers see almost none. A few may appear as long earthgrazing meteors low in the east in the hour before dawn. Radio observers can follow the shower easily, though it is hard to separate from the Arietids, whose radiant is nearby. The peak is around 9 June, sometimes a little later.

Why it matters. The June Taurid branches are of special interest because the Taurid complex may contain larger bodies as well as dust. Some researchers have suggested that clusters of larger meteoroids exist within the stream; the idea is still debated, and searching for them is an active area of work.

Viewing. In the UK, June twilight makes visual sightings very unlikely. Radio, or the tropical sky before dawn, offers the best chance.

Viewing tips

1. Use radio to detect the shower; it is strongest around 9 June.
2. Watch the eastern sky before dawn for long, slow earthgrazers.
3. Stop observing well before sunrise and never look towards the Sun.
4. Treat early June radio counts as Arietids and Zeta Perseids combined.
5. Return in October and November for the Taurids, from the same family of meteoroids.

Read about the parent: Comet Encke, and the other comets behind meteor showers.