Quadrantid Meteor Shower This Week 35
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.
Of course... (Score:1)
Fun, no?
Duck-and-Cover (Score:1)
CNN (Score:4)
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.
Re:AHHH THE SKY IS FALLING~!!!! (Score:1)
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.
Re:Duck-and-Cover (Score:1)
this is a potential ratings bonanza! that or fodder for Jack Van Impe.
The Meteor's Point of View (Score:2)
"Hello meteor!"
"Hello meteor! I learned that most meteors burn up in Earth's atmosphere"
"Aaaaaah! The atmosphere!"
"Ahhhhhh!"
"Ahhhh! The atmosphere!"
How long will this last? (Score:2)
Presumed intelligence (Score:1)
Man, don't mess with these guys.. (Score:4)
Hey, nice constellation you have there... be a shame if something happened to it...
Re:Presumed intelligence (Score:1)
Obsolete constellation? (Score:1)
Quick question (Score:1)
Kierthos
Re:CNN (Score:1)
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
Sometthing to do (Score:1)
Best way to view the shower... (Score:3)
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/quad
very interesting reading on this particular shower can be fond here [quadrantids.com] and here [nasa.gov].
Detecting meteors with radio (Score:4)
More information: http://www.imo.net/radio/ [imo.net]
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/leonid2
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Re:How long will this last? (Score:2)
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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Re:Quick question (Score:3)
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
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Media Frenzy (Score:1)
*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?
Yeah whatever (Score:1)
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Re: (Score:1)
7am EST - January 3rd (Score:3)
--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.
Re:Best way to view the shower... (Score:2)
Re:How long will this last? (Score:3)
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.
Re:Obsolete constellation? (Score:4)
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.
Re:The Meteor's Point of View (Score:1)
Why don't you try plagarizing those discovery channel commercials a little more next time?
Steven V.
Re:Detecting meteors with radio (Score:2)
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?
Listen to the Quadrantids!! (Score:3)
So instead, go LISTEN [spaceweather.com] 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.
I think it's called "quoting" (Score:1)
Or he could've simply posted a link to here [adcritic.com]
Re:Detecting meteors with radio (Score:2)
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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prediction? Hahahaha (Score:1)
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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Re:CNN (Score:1)
Places to view in LA? (Score:3)
Re:Places to view in LA? (Score:2)
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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How dissapointing (Score:1)
At least the morning wasn't a complete waste. I took my laptop outside and finally setup xplns [astroarts.com] and learned a few star's names.