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Quadrantid Meteor Shower This Week

Posted by michael on from the get-away-from-the-computer dept.

Captain Foobar writes: "The little-known but very active Quadrantid meteor shower will be visible over most of the U.S. (clear skies permitting) in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, January 3, 2001. The peak is supposed to occur in a two-hour block around 7:00am Eastern time (viewing will be limited due to sunrise), 4:00am Pacific time (viewing should be quite good). Details are here." Note that CNN says the best viewing isn't early Wednesday morning, but late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning.

35 comments

  1. Of course... by TDScott · · Score: 1

    If Russia loses contact with Mir again, we could be treated to the greatest meteor shower ever seen... combining the Quadrantids with flaming debris and solar panels :)

    Fun, no?

  2. Duck-and-Cover by ASCIIMan · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing it's more likely someone will get hit by a satellite on January 3rd than a meteor.

    1. Re:Duck-and-Cover by Johnny+Starrock · · Score: 1

      "On tonight's very special 'It Could Kill Your Children': FIRE AND BRIMSTONE FALL FROM THE SKY: We'll have the death toll along with today's lotto numbers after this."

      this is a potential ratings bonanza! that or fodder for Jack Van Impe.

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  3. CNN by Fervent · · Score: 4
    Note that CNN says the best viewing isn't early Wednesday morning, but late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning.

    They also said Bush was president a month early...

    I'm putting my money on the site with "space" and "science" in its domain name.

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    - I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.

    1. Re:CNN by Kierthos · · Score: 1

      Well, they were right. Now mind you, CNN isn't who I'd go to for astronomical news 90+% of the time, but they do update their site fairly often and are pretty accurate with what they report.

      That notwithstanding, I'm probably going to see what I can see both times, "clear skies permitting" and see who's right. I'm going to be up anyways, might as well catch a glimpse of something burning up in the atmosphere besides the Iridium satellites.

      Kierthos

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      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    2. Re:CNN by grumwork · · Score: 1

      But then again, they were also right.

  4. Re:AHHH THE SKY IS FALLING~!!!! by Pxtl · · Score: 1

    No... The Quadrantids are coming, run for your lives!

    Seriously, after trying to figure out how to pronounce the name (you squirmed with it, admit it), doesn't Quadrantids sound like a bad 50's sci-fi alien invasion.

  5. The Meteor's Point of View by Cheshire+Cat · · Score: 2
    The particles leave brilliant trails, sometimes called shooting stars, as they burn up in the atmosphere.

    "Hello meteor!"

    "Hello meteor! I learned that most meteors burn up in Earth's atmosphere"

    "Aaaaaah! The atmosphere!"

    "Ahhhhhh!"

    "Ahhhh! The atmosphere!"

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    Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
    1. Re:The Meteor's Point of View by svallarian · · Score: 1

      Oh nice.
      Why don't you try plagarizing those discovery channel commercials a little more next time?

      Steven V.

      --
      I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
  6. How long will this last? by Radish03 · · Score: 2

    At CNN, it says "The Quadrantids officially began December 28, but should reach a sharp maximum on January 4 between midnight and 7 a.m. EST, with as many as 200 shooting stars visible per hour." Does anyone know if it will end precisely on the 4th, or will it go on for several more days, but at a slower pace? Just wondering if I should keep my eyes peeled.

    1. Re:How long will this last? by Wizard+of+OS · · Score: 2

      Well, the HR (Hourly rate) of 200 means that you'll probably see about 20 meteors an hour, maximum. The HR is based on ideal situation (no moon, clear sky, etc.) and you'll never reach it.
      Usually, a meteor shower takes about 12 hrs, with one (or more) maximums during the time. For instance, the leonids (november) last year were visible from 00:00 to 7:00, but only at the peak at 3:50 we saw a lot. Time before and after weren't wasted, but we saw half of all the meteors that night during the 10 minute interval.
      Good luck observing, but remember to bring lots and lots of blankets & coffee ;-)

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      If code was hard to write, it should be hard to read
    2. Re:How long will this last? by Randy+Rathbun · · Score: 3

      Yep. Keep your eyes open.

      A good way to think of what is going on here is to make your own comet! Get something, like sand, salt, etc. and pour a line of it out on the table in front of you. Some of the grains will spread out from that line. That is what is happening here.

      As the Earth moves through this, you start out hitting a few particles, hit a max, then hit a few less again until it has passed through the trail. In the case of meteor showers, they are caused by comets leaving debris as they go by.

  7. Presumed intelligence by Linux+Freak · · Score: 1

    Why, I wonder, was it necessary to add the caveat, "clear skies permitting", to this forecast? :-)

    1. Re:Presumed intelligence by Johnny+Starrock · · Score: 1

      Some writers either get paid by the word or have a minimum length they have to deal with. Either that or they get thousands of tear soaked letters from areas with cloud cover during the shower.

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  8. Man, don't mess with these guys.. by Rombuu · · Score: 4

    Quadrantid meteors take their name from an obsolete constellation, Quadrans Muralis, found in early 19th-century star atlases between Draco, Hercules, and Bootes. It was removed, along with a few other constellations, from crowded sky maps in 1922 when the International Astronomical Union adopted the modern list of 88 officially-recognized constellations.

    Hey, nice constellation you have there... be a shame if something happened to it...

    --

    DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
  9. Obsolete constellation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    From the CNN article: The shower takes its name from an obsolete constellation called Quadrans Muralis found in early 19th-century star atlases between Draco, Hercules, and Bootes. Can someone please explain what is meant by the phrase "obsolete constellation"?

    1. Re:Obsolete constellation? by hey! · · Score: 4

      To the casual observer, a constellation is a striking pattern of stars, such as the Big Dipper. Ancient astronomers worked this way too. Ptolemy cataloged 48 constellations and over 1000 stars.

      Constellations eventually became signposts or indications to professional astronomers of the rough neighborhood in the sky that an object belongs in. Thus the object M31 at 00:42:7 RA +41 : 16 dec is commonly referred to as the Great Nebula in Andromeda, or nowadays the Andromeda Galaxy. Of course once you start down this path, it is only a matter of time before you want to be able to describe everything in this way -- as being "in" a constellation.

      Over the years, constellations to the professional astronomomer have become contiguous areas of the sky which conincidentally may contain a striking pattern of stars such as the Saggitarius teapot. It was only a matter of time before celestial atlas makers decided that for completeness sake that every piece of the sky should belong to one and only one constellation. Sometimes they did this by creating "new" constellations (Quadrans Muralis was one of these) to cover regions of the sky with no bright stars at all and which could not conveniently be tucked in with a nearby traditional one. These often have the names of scientific or astronomical instruments, such as (in this case) the meridian mural quadrant, an instrument that saw a short period of usage in the early to mid 17th c. Other atlas makers designated constellations to honor political or personal patrons (George III, Frederick II, Charles II had this honor, which the IAU rescinded in '22).

      Of course, since each atlas maker did this differently, then it wasn't always clear how to designate an object this way if it fell between two star patterns or in an area of the sky with no star patterns nearby. The celestial coordinates do unambiguously mark an object's location, but scientific publications are incredible sticklers for standardization, so in 1922 the International Astronomer's Union drew up a set of constellation boundaries that completely tile the sky (including the Southern Hemisphere).

      During this process small ones such as Quadrans Muralis were dropped if they had little historical or scientific significance.

      Certain equally small constellations such as Canes Minor and Canes Venatici were kept, in the former case because it is well known and contians two very bright stars. Canes Venatici was kept although it is relatively unknown and contains no bright stars at all, because it contains many spectacular nebulae such as the M3 globular cluster and M51 "Whirlpool" galaxy. It's origins are also ancient and therefore it has historical significance. Eliminating it would presumably render a great deal of astronomical papers confusing if it were dropped.

      In all probablity, the Quadrans Muralis constellation contains no objects that, in 1922, had a large body of publications. Furthermore it lacked any historical significance since it was introduced in the 17th century. By way of contrast, Vulpecula (the fox) is for the most part equally obscure and only contains one star worthy of a Bayer Greek letter (alpha), which is of a paltry 4.4 magnitude. However it contais M27, the Dumbell nebula, and a number of nebulae and star clusters. Probably my next favorite star cluster after the Pleides is in this constellation -- Brocchi's cluster, colloquially known as the "Coathanger cluster". To me it look's like the fancy unical capital "T" JRR Tolkien signed his name with.

      A quick look in my star atlas shows that the region formerly occupied by Quadrans Muralis is about as uninteresting a spot as you can pick on the celestial sphere -- just three 4-5 magnitude stars (two of these are double but this is unremarkable in itself) and depending on where the exact borders were 1-4 visually small galaxies with NGC designations only.

      The only constellations dropped with any antiquity were Antinous and Caput Medusae. Antnous designation was ordered by the Roman emporer Hadrian to commorate a friend who was drowned. Caput Medusae, the severed gorgon head of Medusa carried by Perseus, was widely regarded as part of the Perseus constellation despite it's separate designation by Hipparchos, who drew up an early star atlas in the 2nd century BCE.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  10. Quick question by Kierthos · · Score: 1

    Anyone know (from prior observations, perhaps) how this stacks up in "ooh ahh" factor in comparison to the Perseid meteor shower? (I think it's the Perseid... it's 2:20 in the morning and my brain obviously isn't functioning all that well.)

    Kierthos

    --
    Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    1. Re:Quick question by Wizard+of+OS · · Score: 3

      Perseids are cool (around august 11, if I'm not mistaken) but once you've seen the leonids (november) the last few years, other showers won't give you that "ooh ahh" so quick again.
      During leonids, we saw about 200 meteors in an entire night, but I think you may be happy if you see about 20 during this shower. Still nice, but less "ooh ahh" ... :(
      To answer your question, perseids and quandrandids (pfff :) have about the same HR, so given good weather, you'll have a good night

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  11. Sometthing to do by jjr · · Score: 1

    Now I have something to do at seven in the morning on wednesday.

  12. Best way to view the shower... by Natalie's+Hot+Grits · · Score: 3

    here is a good link that tells you details on viewing the shower:
    http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/quadr antids.html

    very interesting reading on this particular shower can be fond here and here.

    --
    Two infinite things: your stupidity and mine. But I'm not sure about the latter. If my sig offends you, I'm sorry.
    1. Re:Best way to view the shower... by sbjornda · · Score: 2

      www.quadrantids.com appears not to have been updated for a year. It doesn't give the best viewing time for 2001.

  13. Detecting meteors with radio by Wizard+of+OS · · Score: 4

    While watching meteors still rocks, there is a nice mechanism that detects meteors using radiowaves. In short, you tune your radio to a radiostation that you wouldn't normally receive (because it's below the horizon). Then you wait for a meteor. When one shows up, it leaves a ionized trail, which will reflect the radio waves: you hear the meteor coming by!

    More information: http://www.imo.net/radio/
    I am member of a small observatory in the Netherlands. We are quite active during meteor showers, for a report of the last Leonids shower, visit http://www.lansbergen.demon.nl/uk/meteors/leonid20 00.html(some nice pictures are included :)

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    If code was hard to write, it should be hard to read
    1. Re:Detecting meteors with radio by jafac · · Score: 2

      Many, many many, many times in the past ten years, I've been "aware" of these showers. And many many many many many times, I've been disappointed at poor predictions of peaks, or bad weather, etc.
      I've done a lot of standing around outside at night with very little reward. The leonids last year was a huge disappointment, because they didn't peak over my part of the world. The previous year, it was cloudy.

      Can this radio reception method be used to detect a peak in the shower before I climb out of my nice warm bed, get dressed and go outside and stand for 15 minutes waiting for my eyes to adjust, and listen to the sound of my ass freezing, falling off and shattering on the ground?

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
    2. Re:Detecting meteors with radio by Wizard+of+OS · · Score: 2

      Well, to be honest, no. Not in all occasions. For this to succeed, you must have a meteor shower with meteors that have trails that remain visible for some time. Otherwise the radio waves won't be reflected.
      If you pick the right shower, you might be able to enjoy the waiting inside, and move outside as soon as the peak shows up.

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      If code was hard to write, it should be hard to read
  14. Media Frenzy by TheWhiteOtaku · · Score: 1
    We should be glad this is such a low key meteor shower. Remember a couple years ago, when the press said that a meteor shower would knock out all our communications satelites?

    *Has a hearty laugh*

    Yah, those were the days. Seriously, who was dumb enough to believe that 600 satelites across an area larger than the Earth's surface could be knocked out by a couple thousand rocks?

    --

    Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?

  15. Yeah whatever by Coppit · · Score: 1

    I'm not draggin my butt outta bed just to be disappointed like I was with the Leonids. Oh wait... It's 7am and I've been up for an hour and a half.... Nevermind.
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  16. Yikes by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

    Let's just hope we don't all wake up the next day blind with triffids having taken over the Earth...
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    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  17. 7am EST - January 3rd by digitalrust · · Score: 3
    From Sky & Telescope's site www.skypub.com

    --begin quote--
    The Quadrantid meteor shower is due to peak on January 3rd at about 12h Universal Time, which corresponds in North America to 6 a.m. Central Standard Time and 4 a.m. Pacific. This year the first-quarter Moon will pose no interference, for it sets shortly after midnight and leaves the skies fully dark from then on. Toward dawn is when the shower radiant, halfway between the head of Draco and the end of the Big Dippers handle, is highest in the sky.

    The "Quads" have a very sharp peak lasting only two hours or so. But if you're watching when it arrives, this can be one of the year's best meteor displays. Between midnight and dawn in good years, 40 or more of these moderately swift meteors may be seen per hour.
    --end quote--

    Either cnn or msnbc said that this is one of the least viewed showers of the year because it occurs in the dead of winter, when the weather stinks. Since the source in the sky is so far north, those down under don't see much.

    Hmm. The forecast for Atlanta is less than 20F. But there's a dark golf course near my house.

  18. Listen to the Quadrantids!! by TheSync · · Score: 3

    Let's face it, it will be too dang cold to watch the Quadrantids. And most of us have seen a meteor shower before.

    So instead, go LISTEN to them. NASA has set up a meteor-scatter detection system at Marshall Space Flight Center that listens in for the Ch. 4 television carrier. Every time a meteor leaves an ionized trail, a Ch. 4 carrier from beyond the horizon is reflected, and you can hear it.

    You can hear something like 10 meteors for every one you can see. Amateur radio operators sometimes work meteor scatter using morse code, but you can see that you've got to send really fast to get anything out. There are also special packet radio protocols for using meteor scatter.

  19. I think it's called "quoting" by Cardinal · · Score: 1

    Not plagarizing. Though I suppose if you want to be legalese about it he should've included credits.

    Or he could've simply posted a link to here

  20. prediction? Hahahaha by Wizard+of+OS · · Score: 1

    Remember the predictions for the leonid showers for the last couple of years? Last year, there were about 5 predictions about the peak-time, and none of them was correct.
    Sites from nasa & esa both picked a predicition and told the world that that would be the time, so sorry if I don't believe this instantly ...

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  21. Places to view in LA? by drix · · Score: 3

    I'm perpetually frustrated when I see these metor showers advertised because I can't ever find a suitable place to view them. LA has horrendous light pollution and I can't ever seem to find a nice dark, eastward facing place to watch the Leonids or these or other meteor showers that require a clear view of the east sky. (Of course findind dark westward facing areas is no problem). Anyone have a favorite spot they like to go near Los Angeles that isn't too far away?

    --

    I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
    1. Re:Places to view in LA? by tesserae · · Score: 2
      Anyone have a favorite spot they like to go near Los Angeles that isn't too far away?

      Depends on what you mean by "too far away."

      LA not only has light pollution, it has particulate pollution to scatter it (hell, I lived there something like six months before the wind came up one day, and I realized that the city was surrounded by mountains!). I missed Halley's Comet because of all that light pollution...

      For serious watching, you're going to have to get out of the Basin -- and unfortunately that's the direction everyone is moving, and taking their lights with 'em. A couple of years ago I was at Edwards AFB for a couple of days, and it was even getting bright there... You'll have to drive a few hours, no matter which way you head, but I'd think north or northeast would take you into darkness fastest. Southeast would be my second choice.

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      Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton

  22. How dissapointing by lhand · · Score: 1
    Ok, I get up at 3:00 AM (Los Angeles). It's warm enough outside to stand around in long sleeves and watch the sky. The sky is crystal clear and the stars (at least the ones in LA :) are bright. 4:00 AM, not a single meteor. 4:30 AM, nothing. 5:00 AM, still nothing!

    At least the morning wasn't a complete waste. I took my laptop outside and finally setup xplns and learned a few star's names.