page_title: Boötes
section_title: Meteor showers
hierarchical_section_title: Boötes / Features / Meteor showers
caption_attribution_description: English: Quadrantid meteor is bright enough to be seen at twilight
context_page_description: Boötes is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from the Greek Βοώτης, Boōtēs, meaning “herdsman” or “plowman”.
  One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, Boötes is now one of the 88 modern constellations. It contains the fourth-brightest star in the night sky, the orange giant Arcturus. Epsilon Bootis, or Izar, is a colourful multiple star popular with amateur astronomers. Boötes is home to many other bright stars, including eight above the fourth magnitude and an additional 21 above the fifth magnitude, making a total of 29 stars easily visible to the naked eye.
context_section_description: Boötes is home to the Quadrantid meteor shower, the most prolific annual meteor shower. It was discovered in January 1835 and named in 1864 by Alexander Hershell. The radiant is located in northern Boötes near Kappa Boötis, in its namesake former constellation of Quadrans Muralis. Quadrantid meteors are dim, but have a peak visible hourly rate of approximately 100 per hour on January 3–4. The zenithal hourly rate of the Quadrantids is approximately 130 meteors per hour at their peak; it is also a very narrow shower. 
  The Quadrantids are notoriously difficult to observe because of a low radiant and often inclement weather. The parent body of the meteor shower has been disputed for decades; however, Peter Jenniskens has proposed 2003 EH₁, a minor planet, as the parent. 2003 EH₁ may be linked to C/1490 Y₁, a comet previously thought to be a potential parent body for the Quadrantids. 
  2003 EH₁ is a short-period comet of the Jupiter family; 500 years ago, it experienced a catastrophic breakup event. It is now dormant. The Quadrantids had notable displays in 1982, 1985, and 2004. Meteors from this shower often appear to have a blue hue and travel at a moderate speed of 41.5–43 kilometers per second.
  On April 28, 1984, a remarkable outburst of the normally placid Alpha Bootids was observed by visual observer Frank Witte from 00:00 to 2:30 UTC. In a 6 cm telescope, he observed 433 meteors in a field of view near Arcturus with a diameter of less than 1°. Peter Jenniskens comments that this outburst resembled a "typical dust trail crossing". The Alpha Bootids normally begin on April 14, peaking on April 27 and 28, and finishing on May 12. Its meteors are slow-moving, with a velocity of 20.9 kilometers per second. They may be related to Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, but this connection is only theorized.
  The June Bootids, also known as the Iota Draconids, is a meteor shower associated with the comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, first recognized on May 27, 1916, by William F. Denning. The shower, with its slow meteors, was not observed prior to 1916 because Earth did not cross the comet's dust trail until Jupiter perturbed Pons-Winnecke's orbit, causing it to come within 0.03 astronomical units of Earth's orbit the first year the June Bootids were observed. 
  In 1982, E. A. Reznikov discovered that the 1916 outburst was caused by material released from the comet in 1819. Another outburst of the June Bootids was not observed until 1998, because Comet Pons-Winnecke's orbit was not in a favorable position. However, on June 27, 1998, an outburst of meteors radiating from Boötes, later confirmed to be associated with Pons-Winnecke, was observed. They were incredibly long-lived, with trails of the brightest meteors lasting several seconds at times. Many fireballs, green-hued trails, and even some meteors that cast shadows were observed throughout the outburst, which had a maximum zenithal hourly rate of 200–300 meteors per hour. 
  Two Russian astronomers determined in 2002 that material ejected from the comet in 1825 was responsible for the 1998 outburst. Ejecta from the comet dating to 1819, 1825, and 1830 was predicted to enter Earth's atmosphere on June 23, 2004. The predictions of a shower less spectacular than the 1998 showing were borne out in a display that had a maximum zenithal hourly rate of 16–20 meteors per hour that night. The June Bootids are not expected to have another outburst in the next 50 years. 
  Typically, only 1–2 dim, very slow meteors are visible per hour; the average June Bootid has a magnitude of 5.0. It is related to the Alpha Draconids and the Bootids-Draconids. The shower lasts from June 27 to July 5, with a peak on the night of June 28. The June Bootids are classified as a class III shower (variable), and has an average entry velocity of 18 kilometers per second. Its radiant is located 7 degrees north of Beta Boötis.
  The Beta Bootids is a weak shower that begins on January 5, peaks on January 16, and ends on January 18. Its meteors travel at 43 kilometers/second. The January Bootids is a short, young meteor shower tha
caption: A bright Quadrantid observed at twilight.
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