Must-see meteor shower Friday morning - The notoriously unpredictable Quadrantids may end up being 2008’s best
Tags: Nature
The Quadrantid meteor shower is due to reach maximum in Friday's predawn hours. The Quadrantids are notoriously unpredictable, but if any year promises a fine display, this could be it. Indeed, this may end up being the best meteor shower of 2008. The Quadrantid (pronounced KWA-dran-tid) meteor shower provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum lasting but a few hours. The timing of peak activity favors Western Europe and eastern North America. Weather permitting, skywatchers in rural locations could see one or two shooting stars every minute during the peak.
As viewed from mid-northern latitudes, we have to get up before dawn to see the Quadrantids at their best. This is because the radiant — that part of the sky from where the meteors emanate — is down low on the northern horizon until about midnight, rising slowly higher as the night progresses. The growing light of dawn ends meteor observing usually by around 7 a.m. So, if the "Quads" are to be seen at all, some part of that eight-hour active period must fall between 2 and 7 a.m.
According to the International Meteor Organization, maximum activity this year is expected on Friday at 1:40 a.m. ET. For those in the eastern United States, the radiant will be about one-quarter of the way up in the east-northeast sky. The farther to the north and east you go, the higher in the sky the radiant will be. To the south and west the radiant will be lower and the meteors will be fewer.
Read more http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22488764/
The Quadrantid meteor shower is due to reach maximum in Friday's predawn hours. The Quadrantids are notoriously unpredictable, but if any year promises a fine display, this could be it. Indeed, this may end up being the best meteor shower of 2008. The Quadrantid (pronounced KWA-dran-tid) meteor shower provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum lasting but a few hours. The timing of peak activity favors Western Europe and eastern North America. Weather permitting, skywatchers in rural locations could see one or two shooting stars every minute during the peak.
As viewed from mid-northern latitudes, we have to get up before dawn to see the Quadrantids at their best. This is because the radiant — that part of the sky from where the meteors emanate — is down low on the northern horizon until about midnight, rising slowly higher as the night progresses. The growing light of dawn ends meteor observing usually by around 7 a.m. So, if the "Quads" are to be seen at all, some part of that eight-hour active period must fall between 2 and 7 a.m.
According to the International Meteor Organization, maximum activity this year is expected on Friday at 1:40 a.m. ET. For those in the eastern United States, the radiant will be about one-quarter of the way up in the east-northeast sky. The farther to the north and east you go, the higher in the sky the radiant will be. To the south and west the radiant will be lower and the meteors will be fewer.
Read more http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22488764/