Look for Meteors Early Tomorrow Morning
on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Early tomorrow morning, the northern sky should light up from the Quadrantid meteor shower. The best time to see this show will be between 3am (after the moon sets) until dawn. The meteors will probably appear low on the horizon, so you’ll want to find a vantage point without obstructions in the lower sky to the north-northeast. The shower is expected to produce 60-200 meteors an hour.
First seen in 1825, the Quadrantids are named from a defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis (mural quadrant) — this constellation was created by French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795, but was subsequently dropped from the roles in 1930. Only those of us in the northern hemisphere will be able to see the Quadrantids.
Astronomers believe the Quadrantids originate from a comet that broke apart hundreds of years ago. The meteors that will be visible tomorrow morning are some of the debris from this fragmentation. After continuing to orbit the sun for centuries, they will enter our atmosphere at around 90,000 MPH and will burn up about 50 miles above us — providing us with natural fireworks to celebrate the beginning of our new year!
Link: ASTRONOMY NEWS – Look for meteors in the early morning sky
[...] stayed up way too late last night, then was up again at 4am this morning to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower. It wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping for. We stood outside watching the NNE sky [...]