December 20, 2002
Did you miss out
on last November's meteor storm because the glare of the Moon washed
out most of the meteors? Was your view of December's Geminid meteor
shower obscured by clouds?
Well, according
to NASA Solar System Ambassador to Utah Patrick Wiggins, "Utahan's across
the state will get yet another chance at a meteor shower when January's
Quadrantid meteor shower, usually one of the three best showers of the
year, reaches its predicted peak during the moonless, evening hours
of Friday the 3rd of January and running into the early morning hours
of Saturday the 4th.
The Quadrantids
are not very well known to observers in the northern hemisphere, possibly
because few people tend to be outside during the cold January nights
when the Quadrantids are active. However, those hardy souls who do venture
out away from city light pollution during the shower's peak can usually
count on seeing one or two meteors per minute.
Meteor showers
tend to get their names from the part of the sky from which the meteors
appear to radiate. For example November's Leonids seem to come from
the constellation Leo and December's Geminids from Gemini. The Quadrantids
follow this same convention except that their ancient constellation,
Quadrans Muralis, the Mural or Wall, is now know as Bootes, the Herdsman.
"Many people call
these lights shooting stars," says Wiggins. "They're actually tiny bits
of rock, most no larger than a grain of sand, that burn up and turn
to ash when they strike the Earth's extreme upper atmosphere high above
our heads."
Observers should
remember that since telescopes and binoculars restrict the user's field
of view they should not be used to view this or any meteor shower. When
asked about this Wiggins quipped, "Probably the best meteor observing
equipment consists of a lawn chair and your eyeballs".
As with most meteor
showers, this one may be most visible after midnight when the Earth
has rotated so that the observer is facing the oncoming meteor swarm.
However some meteors may be seen in the early evening as well.
For additional
astronomical information log on to Wiggins' solar System Ambassador
web site at http://planet.state.ut.us.
