Weather for 5 Jun 2001 -- The Arietids!

METEOR SHOWER:
The annual Arietid meteor shower peaks this week on Thursday, June 7th. The Arietids are unusual because they are daytime meteors -- most of them streak through the sky unnoticed while the bright Sun is overhead. Nevertheless, early risers on Thursday could spot some beautiful "Earthgrazing" Arietids during the dark hour just before dawn. Later in the day, after the Sun rises, you can listen to the shower by tuning in to NASA's online meteor radar.

SOLAR WIND:
Our planet spent the weekend inside a high-speed solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the Sun. Geomagnetic activity was generally low, but some observers did spot auroras when Earth first entered the stream on Friday.

Lyndon Anderson captured this image (above) and others
on June 1st while sky watching
near Bismarck, North Dakota.

BRIGHTENING COMET:
Comet C/2000 A2 (LINEAR) is heading for a 0.24 AU close encounter with Earth on June 30th -- and growing brighter every day. Observers in the southern hemisphere say the comet is now glowing at visual magnitude 4.8 and the blue green color of its coma (the fuzzy region around the nucleus) is evident even through binoculars. Modest telescopes reveal a beautiful tail approximately 1.5 degrees long.

Above: Australia's Gordon Garradd captured this view
of comet LINEAR's gas tail stretching 1.5 degrees
(the width of three full moons) on May 18, 2001.
(Copyright 2001, G. Garradd)
(Astronomy Pic of the Day, May 31, 2001)

This comet first attracted attention in late April when it suddenly broke apart en route to a close encounter with the Sun on May 25th. The icy core now harbors at least three "mini-comets."

Northern hemisphere sky watchers can't see C/2000 A2 now -- it's located in southern skies. But that will soon change as the comet heads north again beginning June 11th. By the end of this month it will lie 30 degrees above the horizon when the sun rises over mid-Northern latitudes.

(3D orbit)
(ephemeris)

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Current Conditions (updated: Today at 1826 UT)

(Click the Dials Pic)
Solar Wind velocity: 385.6 km/s
Density: 3.4 protons/cc.

X-ray Solar Flares (Updated: Today at 1825 UT)
6-hr max: C7 1420 UT Jun 05
24-hr: M2 0450 UT Jun 05

Radio Meteor Rate (Updated: 5 Jun 2001)
24 hr max: 82 per hr
(Listen to the Meteor Radar!)

Sunspot Count (updated: 4 Jun 2001)
Sunspot Number: 125

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I don’t know exactly why -- but it reminded me of james.

William B. Watterson II was born on July 5, 1958, in Washington, D.C.
He moved at age 6 to Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
He was educated at Kenyon College in Gambier (1976-1980),
where he received a B.A. in Political Science.
Watterson is married, with Melissa, but he doesn't have any children.
(More)

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Dan