Quadrantids Meteor Shower

[Sickle]

"The Quadrantids is an above average shower, with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak. It is thought to be produced by dust grains left behind by an extinct comet known as 2003 EH1, which was discovered in 2003. The shower runs annually from January 1-5. It peaks this year on the night of the 2nd and morning of the 3rd. The thin crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies for what could be an excellent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes, but can appear anywhere in the sky."

Source: www.seasky.org

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up!

[Themohawkninja]

Oh well... I live where the sun doesn't shine come winter time.

[Sickle]

Ahh A fellow Northern Hemisphere... Person?

[-Velocity-]

Thanks for the heads up! I'm a deep space observer almost exclusively (mainly galaxies and nebulae), so I usually ignore meteor showers. This despite the fact that some of the greatest observing experiences in my 20 years of sky observing have had to do with meteors (the 2001 Leonid meteor storm with like 1500 meteors/hour, and a super bright bollide I saw in 2011 that created sonic booms that arrived a few minutes later).

However, as far as regular meteor showers go, they are pretty boring to me. Starting at 0100 and on, I see a ton of sporadic meteors anyway, just glancing at the sky between glimpses through the eyepiece. Maybe I'll see a few Quadranids as I HOPE to take my telescope out Friday night/Saturday morning for the first serious observing session I've had since November 2012! My scope takes around 45-60 mins to get fully set up, and apart from public outreach, I only use it from really dark sky sites that are a few hours drive away. So I observe all night to make the most of the 7-8 hours of driving and 3 hours of packing/set-up/tear-down/unpacking time... so I need a confluence of very clear skies, time off from work, and a new Moon to go observing, and I've been supremely unlucky in the last year. For example, last month, I had a chance to go observing, but I was sick for the first time in a year.

Anyway, if I DO get to observe on Friday night/Saturday morning, I'll see if I can trace any sporadic meteors I spot back to their radiant and see if they are possibly Quadranids. Maybe I'll report back here and let you know.

Edited January 2, 2014 by |Velocity|

[Sickle]

Best of luck!

[rpayne88]

Damn it. I've got a blizzard over my house right now.

[BlackBicycle]

Watching it now. Haven't seen anything yet, but I still have quite a few hours before sunrise. Jerusalem here (The One : )

[-Velocity-]

OK, definitely not going observing tonight. 100% chance of cirrus. I HATE CIRRUS CLOUDS.

[Themohawkninja]

Well, I can't see any meteors, but I did just have the insanely rare opportunity of it being only 12 degrees F and a clear sky which allowed me to easily see the Orion nebula AND the Andromeda galaxy with my naked eye (the latter one being the first time I have ever witnessed such a thing). Not to mention the various stars.

I CAN SEE A GALAXY FROM MY HOUSE!