Meteors will light up the winter sky

Kubo · Jan 2, 2011

The Quadrantids, one of the best but least-known meteor showers, will shine in the new year.

The annual Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the yearâ€™s best. In 2011, this shower will be especially good because it reaches its peak the evening of January 3, within 8 hours of New Moon. So, not only will you see bright meteors easily, but youâ€™ll also count quite a few fainter â€œshooting stars.â€

Astronomers predict that the Quadrantids will peak around 8 p.m. EST January 3. That time works best for Europe, but North American meteor-watchers should also keep an eye out because predicting meteor showers isnâ€™t an exact science yet. New Moon occurs at 4:03 a.m. EST January 4, so no distracting moonlight will pollute the sky.

Youâ€™ll need a clear, dark sky to see more than just a few Quadrantids. â€œDarkâ€ means at least 40 miles from the lights of a large city. You wonâ€™t need a telescope or even binoculars â€” in fact, the eyes alone work best because they provide the largest field of view.

Astronomy magazine contributing editor Raymond Shubinski, who has observed more than 100 meteor showers, offers an important point: â€œComfort counts when observing meteor showers,â€ Shubinski says. â€œMost importantly, you must keep warm. Observing is not a physical activity â€” youâ€™ll just be standing or sitting.â€

When youâ€™re ready to start observing, set up a lawn chair, preferably one that reclines. To see the maximum number of meteors, just look overhead. Glancing around wonâ€™t hurt anything.

Shubinski advises observers to keep a running tally of meteors. â€œBy doing that,â€ he says, â€œyouâ€™ll get a good idea of how your site compares with observing sites around the world.â€

How many Quadrantids will you see? Most years under clear, moonless conditions, observers count 120 meteors per hour from a dark site. Thatâ€™s an average of two shooting stars a minute!

The showerâ€™s radiant lies in the northern part of the constellation BoÃ¶tes the Herdsman, which will lie low in the eastern sky at midnight and overhead at dawn. The Quadrantids got their name from a defunct constellation, Quadrans Muralis the Mural Quadrant, which used to occupy this region of sky.
Quadrantid facts
* The now-extinct constellation Quadrans Muralis the Mural Quadrant originally sat between the right foot of Hercules, the left hand of BoÃ¶tes, and Draco. It represented the mural quadrant of French astronomer JÃ©rome Lalande (1732â€“1807). Lalande used his quadrant to chart some 50,000 stars while at the College de France. French globe-maker J. Fortin introduced Quadrans Muralis as a constellation in his atlas of 1795.

* The Quadrantid meteor shower originated from a near-Earth asteroid named 2003 EH1. Although astronomers classify 2003 EH1 as an asteroid, most believe it to be a dead comet. Observers first recognized the Quadrantids as an annual meteor shower in 1839.

Meteor shower facts
* Meteors are small particles of rock and metal Earth encounters (runs into) during its orbit around the Sun. In space, these particles are â€œmeteoroids.â€ When they burn up in the atmosphere, they are â€œmeteors.â€ If they survive the fiery ordeal of passage through our thick blanket of air and land on Earth, they then become â€œmeteorites.â€

* No known meteorite has come from a meteor shower â€” the particles are too small.

Interesting facts about meteors
* To be visible, a meteor must be within about 120 miles (200 kilometers) of an observer.

* Meteors become visible at an average height of 55 miles (90 km). Nearly all burn up before they reach an altitude of 50 miles (80 km).

* The typical bright meteor is produced by a particle with a mass less than 1 gram and is no larger than a pea.

* The hourly rate on a â€œnon-showerâ€ night is approximately 6 meteors per hour.

* A meteoroid enters the atmosphere at velocities between 50,000 and 165,000 mph (81,000 and 265,000 km/h).
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The Twin · Jan 2, 2011

So...if it's 8 pm tomorrow in Europe, then that means maybe 3 or 4 am-ish here on the East Coast...?

Also, possibly unrelated, but what caught my eye in that article was the mention of a "defunct" constellation. What is that, and who decides if a constellation is defunct?

muff monkey · Jan 2, 2011

Nashida said: ↑

So...if it's 8 pm tomorrow in Europe, then that means maybe 3 or 4 am-ish here on the East Coast...?

Also, possibly unrelated, but what caught my eye in that article was the mention of a "defunct" constellation. What is that, and who decides if a constellation is defunct?
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I think it's 8pm on the east coast. And then in Europe it will be a later time in the night/early morning.

Umiyuri Papaeyra · Jan 3, 2011

muff monkey said: ↑

I think it's 8pm on the east coast. And then in Europe it will be a later time in the night/early morning.
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Yeah, I have no idea why it said 8pm EST was ideal for Europe, because the majority of Europe is east of GMT!

P · Jan 3, 2011

Does New Zealand get a best-time to view? Do we get it at all?

It'd be a summer shower for us, so I get the feeling I won't get to see it. :/

Kubo · Jan 3, 2011

P said: ↑

Does New Zealand get a best-time to view? Do we get it at all?

It'd be a summer shower for us, so I get the feeling I won't get to see it. :/
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Quadrantids have 'Radiant' : RA 5h 28m / +50 d.
So till a latitude of 50degree south (- 50), the radiant point would be visible at least for part of the night.
On January 4 (76 days before VE with RA = 0 h.), the Sun's position (RA) is
- (76 / 365.25) X 360 / 15= - 5 h = 19h (approx.)
The radiant is situated
5h 28m - (-5 h)= 10h 28m
before Sun. It rises at about 7:32 PM and reaches culmination by 1:32 AM.
That is the best chance for Australians to look 'due north' when 'Bootes' appears near horizon. Obviously those in York peninsula (39 degrees above horizon to the north) or Arnheim peninsula (37 d.) to a lesser degree have best view compared to those in Melbourne (12 d.)
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Active: December 28 – January 12; Maximum: January 4, 01h10m UT (λ⊙ = 283.16Â°);
ZHR = 120 (can vary ∼ 60–200);
Radiant: α = 230Â°, δ = +49Â°; Radiant drift: see Table 6;
V∞ = 41 km/s; r = 2.1 at maximum, but variable;
TFC: α = 242Â°, δ = +75Â° and α = 198Â°, δ = +40Â° (β > 40Â° N).
IFC: before 0h local time α = 150Â°, δ = +70Â°; after 0h local time α = 180Â°, δ = +40Â° and
α = 240Â°, δ = +70Â° (β > 40Â° N).
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New Moon just eight hours after the predicted Quadrantid maximum creates ideal circumstances for observing the shower from northern hemisphere sites this year. From many such places, the shower's radiant is circumpolar, in northern BoÃ¶tes, attaining a useful elevation only after local midnight, and rising higher in the sky towards morning twilight. This means places at European longitudes east to those of central Asia should be best-placed to record what happens.
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You're in the verge of missing it, with a few words :P

You can also look for more information like places in the world you will be able to see it, here (it has places in Australia as well, P):
http://www.spacedex.com/quadrantids/

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Meteors will light up the winter sky

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