Latest news with #Bootids
CNET
3 days ago
- Science
- CNET
Look Up on Friday Night and You Just Might See the Bootids Meteor Shower
Earth gets pelted by meteors all the time, but only a few showers are large enough to warrant names. Bootids is one such meteor shower, and it generally occurs in June every year as the Earth moves through the tail of the 7P/Pons-Winnecke comet. For 2025, the best night to catch a potential glimpse of Bootids is this Friday, June 27. It isn't an easy meteor shower to spot. Its "radiant" -- the point in the sky from which the meteor shower appears to originate -- is in the constellation Boötes (hence the shower's name), which means herdsman or ox-driver in ancient Greek. Per Stellarium's sky map, Boötes will be in the western sky close to the horizon all Friday evening before dipping below the horizon at sunrise. This applies to the entire continental US, so there aren't any special instructions based on location. The reason viewers will need a little luck to see it is twofold. For starters, the constellation is pretty low on the horizon, which will make it much harder for anyone to see anything if they're in a well-lit city or suburb. Secondly, The American Meteor Association classifies Bootids as a Class III meteor shower. That means it may light up the sky with plenty of meteors or average less than one per day, even at its peak. We won't know how strong this year's Bootids will be until Saturday after the peak has passed. One meteor hit a Georgia house Despite its finicky nature, the shower did produce an incident here on Earth. On Thursday, a meteor entered Earth's atmosphere and mostly burned up, but did leave a golf ball-sized hole in a Georgia family's home. Observers reported seeing the meteor as far away as Tennessee, Florida, and North Carolina. Here's an excellent video showing the Georgia meteor that looks like something out of War of the Worlds. With Bootids at its peak, there is an increased risk of such an event occurring again. Tips for watching the Bootids meteor shower Much like real estate, it's all about location, location, location. City dwellers and suburbanites will have the hardest time seeing a shooting star since the light pollution of larger populated areas can get in the way of seeing dimmer meteors. For context, the Perseids meteor shower can spit out upwards of 100 meteors per hour, but in the city, you may see one to two per hour, if any at all. The best tip is getting out of the city as far as you're willing to go. The further out you go, the less light pollution will hinder your progress and the more meteors that will be visible. If you can swing it, take a pair of binoculars as well. Telescopes won't be necessary as they will restrict your view of the open sky too much, which may cause you to miss meteors. Other than that, the key is patience. With inconsistent showers like Bootids, it may be a consistent shower all night or bursts of activity. Finally, it's best to temper expectations. You may go home not seeing anything at all, especially if the weather is not on your side.
CNET
3 days ago
- Science
- CNET
Look Up Friday Night, You Just Might See the Bootids Meteor Shower
Earth gets pelted by meteors all the time, but only a few showers are large enough to warrant names. Bootids is one such meteor shower that generally occurs in June every year as the Earth moves through the tail of the 7)/Pons-Winnecke comet. For 2025, the best night to catch a potential glimpse of Bootids is this Friday, June 27. It's not an easy meteor shower to spot. Its radiant — the point in the sky from which the meteor shower appears to originate — is in the constellation Boötes, hence the shower's name, which itself means herdsman or ox-driver in ancient Greek. Per Stellarium's sky map, Boötes will be in the western sky close to the horizon all Friday evening before dipping below the horizon at sunset. This applies to the entire continental US, so there aren't any special instructions based on location. The reason viewers will need a little luck to see it is twofold. For starters, the constellation is pretty low on the horizon, which will make it much harder for anyone to see anything if they're in a well-lit city or suburb. Secondly, The American Meteor Association classifies Bootids as a Class III meteor shower. That means it may light up the sky with plenty of meteors or average less than one per day, even at its peak. We won't know how strong this year's Bootids will be until Saturday after the peak has passed. Despite its finicky nature, the shower did produce an incident here on Earth. Early Friday, a meteor entered Earth's atmosphere and mostly burned up, but did leave a golf ball-sized hole in a Georgia family's home. Observers reported seeing the meteor as far away as Tennessee, Florida, and North Carolina. Here's an excellent video showing the Georgia meteor that looks like something out of War of the Worlds. With Bootids at its peak, there is an increased risk of such an event occurring again. Tips for watching the Bootids meteor shower Much like real estate, it's all about location, location, location. City dwellers and suburbanites will have the hardest time seeing a shooting star since the light pollution of larger populated areas can get in the way of seeing dimmer meteors. For context, the Perseids meteor shower can spit out upwards of 100 meteors per hour, but in the city, you may see one to two per hour, if any at all. The best tip is getting out of the city as far as you're willing to go. The further out you go, the less light pollution will hinder your progress and the more meteors that will be visible. If you can swing it, take a pair of binoculars as well. Telescopes won't be necessary as they will restrict your view of the open sky too much, which may cause you to miss meteors. Other than that, the key is patience. With inconsistent showers like Bootids, it may be a consistent shower all night or bursts of activity. Finally, it's best to temper expectations. You may go home not seeing anything at all, especially if the weather is not on your side.
The Citizen
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Citizen
Bootid Meteor Shower: How to see ‘Shooting Stars' tonight
Pretoria skywatchers, get ready — the Bootid meteor shower is expected to peak tonight, and South Africans might be in for a treat just after sunset. Although the June Bootids are known for being unpredictable — with anything from a few to over 100 meteors per hour — the timing works in our favour this year. The best chance to spot 'shooting stars' will be after sunset, once the sky darkens over Gauteng. According to astronomers, the radiant point of the shower lies in the constellation Boötes, which will be high in the western sky just as twilight fades. To find it, look between the bright orange star Arcturus (easily visible in the evening sky) and Alkaid, the star at the end of the Big Dipper's handle. The meteor shower technically peaks around 07:00 SAST on Saturday morning, but with Boötes high overhead on Friday night, your best shot at seeing meteors in South Africa will be from 7pm onwards — especially in dark areas away from city lights. Here are some tips for viewing it tonight: When to watch: Friday night, June, 27, just after 7pm Where to look: High in the western sky, near the bright star Arcturus What to expect: The Bootids are unpredictable — you may see just a few, or a dramatic burst of meteors. So grab a blanket, head somewhere dark, and keep your eyes on the sky — Pretoria might just get lucky with a rare cosmic display this weekend. Also read: Celeste and her dog Shadow found safe Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to bennittb@ or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
CNN
4 days ago
- Climate
- CNN
Fireball spotted over Southeast US may have been caused by meteor
A rarely seen daytime fireball that may have been dropped by a meteor was spotted across the Southeast on Thursday — creating a sonic boom that blared through the region. The American Meteor Society received numerous reports of a fireball over the region on Thursday afternoon, its website shows. The reports came during the Bootids meteor shower, a lower-level meteor shower that is ongoing this week, according to an American Meteor Society list. 'It looks to be a 'daytime fireball' that caused a sonic boom. This is usually indicative of a (meteor) dropping a fireball, but not always,' Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, told CNN. Seeing a daytime fireball is a rare occurrence: Fireballs are easier to view at night, but have to be much brighter to be visible during the day, the American Meteor Society says. It's also 'quite rare' for sonic booms to be heard on the ground when a fireball occurs, according to the organization. One fireball fell and likely broke apart into at least dozens if not hundreds of fragments, Hankey said. Whether the fireball hit the ground has yet to be confirmed, but there have been reports of a piece of meteorite hitting a home in Henry County, Georgia, he said. Between 11:51 to 11:56 a.m. Thursday, satellite-based lighting detection showed 'a streak within cloud free sky over the NC/VA border,' the National Weather Service in Charleston said on X, correcting the timeframe it had shared in an earlier post. Analysis of satellite-based lightning detection by CNN show additional signatures over the Atlanta area. Elsewhere in Georgia, dashcam video taken at approximately 12:30 p.m. in Forsyth shows a fireball descending to the ground. And in Newton County, the sheriff's office said it received a notification from the National Weather Service that it was likely a meteor, and 'more could possibly be on the way.' A Henry County, Georgia, resident reported that a 'rock' fell through their ceiling around the same time the fireball occurred, according to the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. The object broke through the roof and ceiling before cracking the flooring inside the home. In Lexington County, South Carolina, dashcam video shows a big flash of light falling through the sky Thursday. South Carolina's emergency management division told CNN it is monitoring the situation. Brenda Eckard, 64, from Gilbert, South Carolina, said she was driving home when she saw a 'big flash in the sky come down and disappear.' She first thought it was a meteor that 'almost looked like a firework,' Eckard told CNN Thursday. Eckard then called her husband to check if their house was still standing. A fireball is an unusually bright meteor that reaches a magnitude over -4, which is brighter than Venus, according to the American Meteor Society. Thursday's fireball reached a magnitude of around -14, the organization told CNN, which would make it brighter than the full moon. The brighter the fireball, the more rare the event is, according to the American Meteor Society. 'Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight,' the organization says. Thursday's fireball was a special type called a bolide that explodes in a bright terminal flash, according to the organization. Bolides happen several dozen times a year 'when our planet is impacted by asteroids too small to reach the ground but large enough to explode upon impact with Earth's atmosphere,' according to NASA. CNN has reached out to emergency management officials in North Carolina and Tennessee. The North American Aerospace Defense Command directed questions to NASA. CNN has reached out to NASA.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Fireball spotted over Southeast US may have been caused by meteor
A rarely seen daytime fireball that may have been dropped by a meteor was spotted across the Southeast on Thursday — creating a sonic boom that blared through the region. The American Meteor Society received numerous reports of a fireball over the region on Thursday afternoon, its website shows. The reports came during the Bootids meteor shower, a lower-level meteor shower that is ongoing this week, according to an American Meteor Society list. 'It looks to be a 'daytime fireball' that caused a sonic boom. This is usually indicative of a (meteor) dropping a fireball, but not always,' Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, told CNN. Seeing a daytime fireball is a rare occurrence: Fireballs are easier to view at night, but have to be much brighter to be visible during the day, the American Meteor Society says. It's also 'quite rare' for sonic booms to be heard on the ground when a fireball occurs, according to the organization. It remains unclear how many fireballs fell and whether they hit the ground. Between 11:51 to 11:56 a.m. Thursday, satellite-based lighting detection showed 'a streak within cloud free sky over the NC/VA border,' the National Weather Service in Charleston said on X, correcting the timeframe it had shared in an earlier post. Analysis of satellite-based lightning detection by CNN show additional signatures over the Atlanta area. Elsewhere in Georgia, dashcam video taken at approximately 12:30 p.m. in Forsyth shows a fireball descending to the ground. And in Newton County, the sheriff's office said it received a notification from the National Weather Service that it was likely a meteor, and 'more could possibly be on the way.' In Lexington County, South Carolina, dashcam video shows a big flash of light falling through the sky Thursday. South Carolina's emergency management division told CNN it is monitoring the situation. Brenda Eckard, 64, from Gilbert, South Carolina, said she was driving home when she saw a 'big flash in the sky come down and disappear.' She first thought it was a meteor that 'almost looked like a firework,' Eckard told CNN Thursday. Eckard then called her husband to check if their house was still standing. A fireball is an unusually bright meteor that reaches a magnitude over -4, which is brighter than Venus, according to the American Meteor Society. Thursday's fireball reached a magnitude of around -14, the organization told CNN, which would make it brighter than the full moon. The brighter the fireball, the more rare the event is, according to the American Meteor Society. 'Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight,' the organization says. Thursday's fireball was a special type called a bolide that explodes in a bright terminal flash, according to the organization. Bolides happen several dozen times a year 'when our planet is impacted by asteroids too small to reach the ground but large enough to explode upon impact with Earth's atmosphere,' according to NASA. CNN has reached out to emergency management officials in North Carolina and Tennessee. The North American Aerospace Defense Command directed questions to NASA. CNN has reached out to NASA.
