Arietids Daytime Meteor Shower: How To See June 7 Peak

Look toward the sun about 45 minutes before dawn Wednesday, and you may see something unexpected — a daytime meteor shower. Showing up now on meteor radar in Canada, the Arietids meteor shower is expected to peak Wednesday morning, June 7. You may be able to see Arietids streaking across the daytime sky in both the North and South hemispheres, but there is a big catch: Bright sunlight makes them invisible.

More’s the pity. Producing about 60 meteors an hour, the Arietids are one of the most active meteor showers of the year. The annual June daytime shower plays second chair to more dazzling nighttime meteor showers, but the sight of fireballs streaking across the sky in the predawn hours may be worth the sacrifice of a few hours sleep.

The Arietids originate from the constellation Aries, which travels to within 30 degrees of the sun every June. Canada’s Meteor Orbit Radar indicates a hot spot of activity in the constellation as the Arietids tune up for the Wednesday predawn show. No one is exactly sure what caused them. Two working theories are that the Arietids were created by the sun-grazing asteroid 1566 Icarus, or they’re dust from a comet that broke up thousands of years ago. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

For those vigilant skywatchers who do get up early, the Arietids could deliver a spectacular show of fireballs streaking far across the sky at speeds of about 87,000 mph, according to Spaceweather.com.

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“Pre-dawn Arietids tend to be ‘Earthgrazers’ — meteors that skim horizontally through the upper atmosphere from radiants near the horizon,” Spaceweather.com wrote. “Spectacular Earthgrazers are usually slow and bright, streaking far across the sky — worth waking up for!”

For the best views of the Arietids, look to the east about 45 minutes before sunrise.

The Arietids shower in the predawn sky near the Silver Falls River on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (Photo by Robert Emperley/Flickr Commons)