(meteorobs) Quick June Bootid Summary

[Robert Lunsford]

I can confirm Pierre's statement that the JBO's have indeed returned. I
started an hour after Pierre quit (8:38 UT) and watched for the next three
hours under skies between +6.5 and +7.0. I counted a total of 48 meteors, 20
of which were possible/probable June Bootids. A majority of them appeared to
occur in three distinct periods, like the Earth was passing through the old
trails of the parent comet. The first occurred near 0913 UT, when 5 JBO's
were recorded in quick succession. The second near 9:37 UT, when 7 JBO's
were recorded. The last "mini swarm" occurred near 1030 UT when 5 more were
seen. The radiant was very low after 1030 UT and only 4 more JBO's were seen
in that last hour. Twilight was also getting bad after 1130 UT.

A majority of the JBO's seemed to be magnitude +2, although there were a few
faint ones and one of magnitude -1. I managed to plot approximately half of
them as some of them appeared at the edge of my field of view and therefore
were difficult to plot accurately. The most impressive JBO occurred at 1038
UT when a zero magnitude meteor crawled upward just north of the Hercules
"Keystone". Even though it only traveled 3 degrees the beautiful golden
yellow color was obvious.

OK, time to starting crunching numbers!

Bob Lunsford
Mt. Laguna, CA