The Quadrantids will be active from December 28th to January 12th, 2021. Will peak Jan 2nd/3rd.
The Quadrantids have the potential to be the strongest shower of the year but usually fall short due to the short length of maximum activity (6 hours) and the poor weather experienced during early January.
The average hourly rates one can expect under dark skies is 25. These meteors usually lack persistent trains but often produce bright fireballs. Due to the high northerly declination (celestial latitude) these meteors are not well seen from the southern hemisphere.
I’ll decipher the two that are most often confused
Radiant is the area of the sky that the majority of the meteors will appear to radiate from. basically that’s the bullseye in the sky you want to look near and coming out from that area is where most will be seen.
and ZHR. the abbreviation for zenithal hourly rate this one is the number of meteors that “should” be visible at the showers peak but is often much lower than the stated number and is dependent on many other variables. for instance, from your viewing location, if the radiant is directly overhead that gives you the best chances at actually seeing the true ZHR. the closer the radiant is to the horizon the lower your odds go. also dependent on things such as light pollution, and atmospheric conditions the better the view of the sky ( especially no full moon during the peak sadly @todwatts it wont help this one) the better your chances are of seeing the full ZHR.
and I’ll go on the nerd limb here. Parent object. meteor showers are actually caused by the Earth’s orbit. as we travel around occasionally we will travel through the previous path of an asteroid or comet. As most know, both of those objects have “tails” of debris, dust and debris blown off the main object by solar wind leaving behind a nice little debris trail. as the earth travels and we pass through these debris trails, the rocks and dust burn up in our atmosphere and we get a meteor shower. thus the asteroid or comet that left that trail of debris is the “parental body”
if you have ever heard of the Orionid meteor showers that happen in late October and November. those have a famous parent, one you may have heard of. Halley’s Comet.
per law- Mr. Sagan
thats enough of a nerd spiel for today lol hope you enjoyed class…dismissed
@todwatts, since I created the stand for the extension pole, I don’t need to get on the roof. I just climb a ladder, put the cameras on the little platform and hoist it up to about 14’. I could take it up a little higher, but then it gets a little wobbly.
But, thanks for the heads up! And @Bam, thanks for the lesson.
Jeese, Professor @Bam, while I thank you for your explanation, I hope there isn’t going to be a quiz on my comprehension of the facts!
@mvb Ladder, Snow. Northern location. Please be careful! I enjoy your meteor captures!
I really do appreciate everyone’s willingness to help explain meteors and other things that go bang in the dark night sky to us! To be honest, I was never interested in this sort of stuff until I got a Wyze V3.
Nice set-up Ken! How did you run the electrical cord? To an extension cord run in the gutter?
I have my V3, flat on its back, wiring pigtail strung through table top.
I took care to wrap both the pigtail to wyze plug connection … and the wyze power plug to an extension cord connection … in plastic, securely taped. I also taped the V3/base so that water wouldn’t flow over plug sd card slot (probably overkill, no, definitely overkill and not necessary)(But I did it anyway).
Wish Wyze would deliver the outdoor rated electrical plug (an accessory not yet available), but truth be told, I’d probably still wrap the connections. Better safe than sorry.
January 2, 3 - Quadrantids Meteor Shower. The Quadrantids is an above average shower, with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak. It is thought to be produced by dust grains left behind by an extinct comet known as 2003 EH1, which was discovered in 2003. The shower runs annually from January 1-5. It peaks this year on the night of the 2nd and morning of the 3rd. The waning gibbous moon will block out most of the faintest meteors this year. But if you are patient, you should still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes, but can appear anywhere in the sky.
@bam My traditional bell curve position was on the far left … so just put me over there to start your curve. Your bell will be correct, according to all my other “professors.” no matter what the subject or shape of the curve.
attendance
Yeah, well, truth be told, my attendance record left a lot to be desired. I thought my attendance level was “fine,” but I “found” out that most teachers had a different interpretation of what was “fine.”
But when I was there, I tried really, really hard to understand what the teachers were saying … which is what I’m trying to do with this astronomy stuff!
@c0nn0rm, Agree with @Omgitstony. That seems to be the best combo. I’ve tried nightvision off, trying to capture “color” but it’s not as effective.
I also pegged the motion detection sensitivity to 100%. Not sure that makes a difference, but figured it wouldn’t hurt.
I did have several “motion detection” alerts and videos … but the vast amount of meteors were found by pulling the sd card out and playing through the “record” continuous recording.
I copied the sd card contents over to a laptop, so I could scroll through them at my leisure.
Quit eating those left over Christmas cookies, get off the couch, and make sure your Wyze V3s are positioned outside, pointed into the dark night sky, starting tomorrow night (12/28).
The Quadrantids are scheduled to start showing up tomorrow … with the peak being Jan 2 into Jan 3 (when your camera positioning skills will likely still be compromised from too much celebrating the end of this Covid Cursed 2020).
just a bit of follow up info from the local sky nerd.
this is a very VERY short lived shower…sometimes peaking in only a few hours…its fall rate is ( under ideal conditions) 80-120 per hour but it has been know to produce some pretty good fireballs.
when looking where to point your cameras…look for the big dipper…the radius is right by it.
