The June Epsilon Ophiuchids meteor shower
Key facts
- Peak
- around 23 June, in active years
- Active
- about 19–26 June, in active years
- Rate at peak (ZHR)
- usually very low; an outburst with many fireballs in 2019
- Speed
- about 18 km/s
- Radiant
- Ophiuchus (near the star Epsilon Ophiuchi, north of Antares)
- Parent body
- Comet 300P/Catalina
Dates shift slightly from year to year. This year's peak is in the events calendar.
The June Epsilon Ophiuchids are a slow midsummer shower that was barely known until 2019, when an outburst of bright meteors showed it was real and tied it to a small comet that passes close to Earth's orbit.
Early hints. The shower was first suggested in 2014 from a handful of meteor orbits with similar paths, and a few more were found in later video data. With so few members, it remained unconfirmed.
The 2019 outburst. Between 19 and 26 June 2019, video camera networks around the world recorded around 90 meteors from the shower, with most activity around 23 June. Many were bright, and numerous fireballs were reported. The outburst confirmed that the shower exists.
The parent comet. The orbits match comet 300P/Catalina. It was found in 2005 by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, a search for near-Earth asteroids, and was first catalogued as an asteroid before a faint coma showed it to be a comet. It orbits the Sun about every four and a half years. Radar observations in 2005, when it passed fairly close to Earth, showed a small, rough nucleus about 1.4 kilometres across, spinning quickly. In 2019 the comet was far from Earth, so the outburst was caused by an old dust trail crossing Earth's path rather than by a close approach of the comet.
Why so slow? The comet's orbit is like Earth's in direction, and the dust catches up with Earth gently, entering at only about 18 kilometres per second. Slow meteors glide across the sky.
What to expect. In most years very little. When a trail encounter is forecast, slow, sometimes bright meteors.
Viewing. The radiant in Ophiuchus, north of the red star Antares, is just south of the celestial equator. It is well placed from the southern hemisphere and the tropics. From the UK it is low in the south around midnight in June, and short twilit nights limit what can be seen.
Viewing tips
- Watch for forecasts of encounters with the comet's dust trails.
- Find Antares in Scorpius and look north into Ophiuchus.
- Expect slow meteors and look out for fireballs.
- Run a camera, which recorded most of the 2019 outburst.
- Observe from further south for a higher radiant and darker June nights.