The Arietid Meteor Shower Will Peak Soon—Here's How to See Its Dazzling Shooting Stars
From now until June 17, you might be able to spot the Arietid meteor shower during the early morning hours right before dawn, with its peak predicted around the morning of Saturday, June 7.
According to NASA, meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trails of debris left behind by comets or asteroids. When Earth's orbit intersects these trails, the debris (known as meteoroids) enters the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds, creating bright streaks of light we see as meteors or shooting stars.
To spot this month's meteor shower, face east and watch for meteors moving away from the radiant, which is the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate. The Arietids radiant is located in the constellation Aries, which you'll find in the eastern sky before sunrise. Streaks of light will move out in all directions from this point, with some moving upward into the predawn sky.
Check when the sun rises in your area and plan to start viewing the spectacle an hour before then. For the best view, NASA recommends traveling away from city lights.
While it's tricky to see daytime meteor showers once the sun comes up, the Arietid meteor shower has a strong zenithal hourly rate, which means there's usually a lot of activity. Per EarthSky, this shower has an impressive rate of 60 to 200 meteors per hour.
That said, it will be daytime when the shower's radiant is overhead, so its maximum beauty is challenging to see. But you may have the chance to spot a few shooting stars if you look up before the sun rises.
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