[Neighbors] Quadrantid meteorite shower Tuesday, January 3, at 7 AM (right at dawn)

[Martha Ennis via Neighbors_nobhill-nm]

this is from Sky and Telescope’s weekly email:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/catch-the-quadrantid-meteors-if-you-can/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=sky-mya-nl-161230&utm_content=910305_SKY_HP_eNL_161230&utm_medium=email


Quadrantid meteor shower — elusive because the peak lasts just a few hours in the first days of January.

The "Quads" can in theory deliver at least 1 meteor per minute under excellent sky conditions — the idealized zenithal hourly rate (ZHR), for someone with perfectly dark skies and the meteor's radiant overhead — is a very high 120. But in practice few observers ever see anything close to this many, because the shower's maximum activity lasts only several hours and is easy to miss.

This year the predicted peak occurs near 14h Universal Time on Tuesday, January 3rd. That corresponds to 9 a.m. EST (a few hours after dawn) and 6 a.m. PST. So this timing generally favors viewing from North America, especially in the Far West. Moonlight won't be much of a problem — a thick waxing crescent will set by mid-evening.
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