Nuts, I totally forgot about this: the Quadrantid meteor shower peaks tonight around 2:00 a.m. Eastern time. This is usually a good shower, producing 100 meteors per hour. The meteors appear to come from between the constellations of Draco and Bootes, which are in the northern sky (sorry Aussies!). The orbits of the particles intersects the Earth’s orbit at a sharp angle, so we pass through the meteoroid stream quickly. This means the shower peaks strongly, lasting usually only a few hours. The Moon won’t be up until very late, and won’t interfere with faint meteors, so this should be a good night to watch.
It’s cloudy here, and I am facing numerous scary deadlines, so I won’t be out tonight. But if you are, tell us what you saw in the comments!
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Every year I know about this shower, as it happens on my birthday! I am also in Colorado, but in the southwest corner and it seems nice and clear for now. Hopefully it holds.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Wicked cold here in the Northeast, 5 degrees may be too cold to get out from under the covers and go out the door this morning.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I saw this and thought “Awesome, it’s been sunny all day, I better check the weather before I head out with the camera and tripod”…
Observed at: Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int’l Airport 10:00 PM EST Thursday 3 January 2008
Light Snow
Temperature -17°C
Sometimes I think the universe conspires against me. Next thing I know I’ll have some nutter seeing a 5-foot Iesu in the snow pile at the side of my driveway.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Went out earlier tonight here in the Maryland suburbs of DC and managed to see one in about ten minutes. I’ll go out later tonight at peak and hopefully see more. It’s really cold out there though.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Well, that was… disappointing. I went out at about 1:30 am, and stayed out till 2 am. Even here in Georgia it’s in the 20s F out there, and I have work tomorrow, so that’s all I was up for tonight. Anyhow, in that half-hour I saw a grand total of… one. (Though there were a few corner-of-the-eye flickers… during meteor showers, I always wish that I had 360 degree vision for my superpower.) I will say, though, that the one I did see was pretty spectacular, visible for five full seconds and very bright. Well, such is the lottery of stray space-junk…
January 4th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Went outside in Western PA (rural) for about an hour (0240 to 0340) @ 12 degrees F (windchill of 3F). Managed to see four meteorites–only one was substantial enough to be considered bright. Did see a lot of corner-of-the-eye flicks and /very/ faint blinks, but they were all minor and hard to quantify. Overall, rather disappointing.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:13 am
It’s so cold I can’t imagine waiting for meteors, let alone a casual glance at Mars.
Even though the radiant is in northern skies couldn’t Aussies see meteors? Meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, so I’m wondering if they’d be visible.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:22 am
I was going to watch this tonight, but I ended up catching a guy with a stolen vehicle and missed the most of it. Oh well, next time I guess.
January 4th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Saw one this morning while walking to my car at about 6:00 AM EST. I was busy looking at Venus and the moon. I wasn’t even looking for the meteors, since an astronomy blogger who will remain unnamed neglected to post about it before I left work yesterday.
And we had exceptionally clear skies last night. Dang you BA! Dang you to heck!
January 4th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I live in Southern Maryland, and saw two pretty big fireballs on the way to work, about 5:30-6:15 AM local time. They were large and bright enough to notice while I was driving.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:02 am
In Nashville, TN saw 2 this morning abour 5:40 AM during my morning walk. They came within about 20 seconds of each other. Very bright and clear. I wish I sould have gotten up sooner. Very cool.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I live in central Wisconsin. Between 0345 and 0545, I saw at least 15 “shooting stars” in addition to many corner-of-my eye flickers. Most of the shooters came from the Big Dipper area. I saw two falling side by side, incredible! And one with a long white tail! Even though it was quite nippy out there, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:09 am
it was to cold here in northern indiana and to many ambiant lights from the city, even though i could see bright stars out from the window
January 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am
I went back out at around 1am last night in the -8degC weather and ended up heading back in around ten minutes later. The sky was beautiful; I could see many more stars than usual (I’ll chalk it up to the low temperature and low moisture content of the air). But apart from some corner-of-the-eye streaks that barely registered, I didn’t see anything. I was hoping for a brilliant fireball like the last time I went meteor watching, but no such luck.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Well, no joy in Southern Illinois (around 37.5N 89W or so).
Searched at 1am, again around 2:30, then quick look 4am CST.
Comet Holmes still putting on show, viewed with low power binoculars.
Comet Tuttle on the way to the sun and here’s to next viewing!
January 4th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Between 0200 and 0230 Eastern, cold and clear, but just two fairly bright and a couple of corner of the eye flickers. The two good ones were in the Big Dipper vicinity. Mars, on the other hand, was spectacularly bright.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
visually was pretty good from 15 miles outside of cleveland, OH
i was outside for about a half an hour and saw one about every 5 minutes, though most were out of the corner of my eye.
wondering if anyone here knows when some upcoming major meteor showers will be?
thanks
January 4th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/meteor_showers_2008.html has a nice little summary of upcoming showers.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
The quadrantids were a total disappointment in 2008, despite there being perfect conditions, with totally clear skies
I live on Long Island in New York. I was on the ocean side of Fire Island from 9:20 p.m. on Thursday January 3rd until 3:50 a.m. on Friday, January 4th. I saw only 1 possible meteorite during this time period. There was so much hype about this being potentially the best meteor shower of the year. All the experts were saying that the peak viewing time on the Northeast coast saying that the peak viewing time would be around 1:40 a.m. There never was a peak of any kind, It was a total bust from my viewpoint.
Do you know if anyone else on Long Island or in New York had the same or different experience than me?
Best regards,
Ken
Dix Hills, New York
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I was just outside 8:00 PM in Freehold, NJ and saw a huge meteorite looked like it was right next to me unreal
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I think the peak time to view meteors on the east coast is between 3:00 am and predawn; about 6 a.m. However, I have seen meteors mostly in the winter months just driving in my car in the early evening hours. The peak time is 3 am - 6 am Jan 3 EST for the Quads.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Columbus, Ohio my back yard 6:00 am. In the 20’s. Brrr In 35 minutes I saw 16. Two were so beautful and long. Question? Where did these Meteors land? I was hoping one would land in my back yard.