Quadrantid Meteor Shower: Scenes from a Winter Night
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A Quadrantid meteor. Image courtesy Dennis Boon
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower did have to happen on a cold night for many of us. Did you get up to look this morning? Did you do the brave thing and go back to bed?
Dennis Boon of Suffolk, England, says he took the image above at 5 a.m., local time, with his Canon SLR and posted it on his Flickr stream. He reports that he set his camera for a one-minute exposure with an extreme wide-angle lens, so that it took in most of the sky from his back garden. Overnight temperatures in southern England were in the upper 30s and low 40s.
Meteor showers — with apologies to those who saw nothing or froze their fingers — can be hit or miss. One can easily sit for half an hour without seeing a single meteor, or one can get lucky and suddenly see a cluster of shooting stars in quick succession. And the odds of success drop quickly if it’s at all hazy or there are city lights nearby.
Didier Schreiner, shooting from the town of Wormhout in northern France, captured a streak in the eastern sky just before dawn. “The wind was rather strong (you can see the blur on the trees) but the sky was clear,” he writes on Spaceweather.com “It allowed me to sight shooting stars from the Quadrantids shower for 1 hour before dawn despite the light pollution. This shooting star was the brightest I saw that morning.” Here’s how it came out; image used with permission:
Meteor seen from Wormhout, France. Copyright Didier Schreiner
Glenn Wester said he took pictures “from the light polluted skies of Smithtown, New York,” and came away with the image below. As he explained it, he combined five of the best streaks he caught in a single composite image. Here’s the result, used with his permission:
Composite image of Quadrantid meteor shower by Glenn Wester, Smithtown, N.Y.
Please let us know if you were up and had good luck.
“Woot!” wrote a Twitter user named Garrett Frankson. “Most meteors I’ve seen in a night. One sailed 45-50deg. Hourly rate was pushing 150 at times.”
Another man, who said he was on the West Coast, tweeted, “It was ABSOLUTELY worth staying up!!! The words to describe the beauty are simply beyond me.”
On the other hand, there was the woman who wrote, “Got up at 3:30am to #meteorwatch and saw two in an hour. If that’s a shower I’m never dating an astrologer, ever.”
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I was trying to stay up last night to see the amazing shower but sadly fell asleep. I don’t think I was even at a good viewing spot.
Do you have any more pictures?
Posted by: jen | January 4, 2012, 11:24 am 11:24 am
Got up at 5:30 a.m. – about 5 degrees here in the Poconos of PA. Perfect view of a crystal-clear sky, bright constellations. Waited about 2 minutes and was rewarded with one meteor. That’s all I needed to confirm I’d seen the Quatrantids and went back into the toasty house!
Posted by: Amy Henasey | January 4, 2012, 11:50 am 11:50 am
Braved the 15 degrees in very Southern new Jersey and saw 7 in about a half an hour. Not as amazing as the meteor rain storm of 2001 but very beautiful nonetheless!
Posted by: Tony Bonfiglio | January 4, 2012, 11:54 am 11:54 am
Was awake at 4:45 anyway since it’s my normal rising time and went outside for a few minutes. It was clear and quite cold. I saw exactly NO meteors and went back inside. I see more when I am taking my morning walks at other times of the year. A big yawn for me.
Posted by: Paul T | January 4, 2012, 12:04 pm 12:04 pm
Only 1 meteor spotted between 3:15 a.m. and 3:45 a.m. in Charlotte, NC. Too cold to say out any longer.
Posted by: Suzanne | January 4, 2012, 12:19 pm 12:19 pm
Santa Maria CA – Tried watching at 12:30am and 3:30am. In both cases watched for about 15 minutes. I saw zero. I’m in the City near street lights. However, the sky was bright. Having young kids helps you be up at these hours:)
Posted by: John Doe | January 4, 2012, 12:30 pm 12:30 pm
I was outside watching in Kansas City from 1:30-3 am. I saw at least 7 bright meteors even in city lit sky. After that they seemed to stop and I was cold and sleepy, so went inside. It was around 30 degrees, cold but much much worse a year ago when it as 0 and lots of snow on the ground.
Posted by: Lillis | January 4, 2012, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
From Hyde Park NY: I went outside around 3 am – and watched for about 20 minutes until my face felt a little numb (negative 2 degrees urged me back inside!). The sky was clear and beautiful, and filled with stars, and I was happy to see 5 meteors.
Posted by: Madeline | January 4, 2012, 12:47 pm 12:47 pm
Was watching from an Atlanta suburb from about 1:30 to 2:00 AM, going in after near hypothermia, haha. I saw a total of 4, one of which was very odd. It was more like a “fireball”, was moving much slower across the sky, and was moving through the Big Dipper and TOWARD the radiant. I don’t think it was a satellite, as it appeared to be “burning”, it was not symmetrical, and it left a very faint trail behind it. I wonder if anyone else saw this, it would have been around 1:45 AM Eastern. Would like to hear some feedback from some of you more seasoned astronomers as to what that may have been?
Posted by: Michael | January 4, 2012, 12:55 pm 12:55 pm
I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and saw 6 of them light up the sky. One was viewed through my binoculars. Absolutely jaw dropping!
Posted by: Star Gazer | January 4, 2012, 1:00 pm 1:00 pm
Someone needs to tell that tweeting woman that its astronomers, not astrologers.
Posted by: Brian Levine | January 4, 2012, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm
woke at 4:44 this morning in Santa Cruz — temperature a balmy 44 degrees F. Donned coat & hat and went out stargazing from my deck — neighbors leave on their superbright porch lights, so conditions are always less than ideal there, but I did see half a dozen meteors blaze toward the horizon. Back in bed by 5:15.
Posted by: Linda Stephenson | January 4, 2012, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
I live 20 miles north of Baltimore and I got a couple decent pictures a cluster of meteor showers last night. I used a Canon camera and used a 3 second exposure. Please respond if you would like me to submit them
Posted by: Alex Ricas | January 4, 2012, 1:15 pm 1:15 pm
Here in eastern Iowa, we had clear skies, no wind and relatively mild temps for this time of year which made for ideal viewing conditions. Saw 5 meteors in a 10 minute span between 2:50am to 3am CST, two of which were very impressive. Would have tried watching longer, but needed to get some sleep before work today.
Posted by: Brent | January 4, 2012, 1:29 pm 1:29 pm
Drove 40 miles out of town in Houston, Texas. there was a thin, patchy cloud cover, but still saw at least a dozen in an hour’s time (between about 3 and 4 am). The 1st one we saw was quite spectacular! I’m tired today at work, but it was worth it.
Posted by: Stellina | January 4, 2012, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm
Woke up at 3am to see the meteor shower. Waited a hour and saw nothing.
Posted by: Karen | January 4, 2012, 2:42 pm 2:42 pm
South Texas… We drove out from the city lights & watched from midnight CST to 3:45. 38 degrees. Saw quite a few meteors, approx 15+ per hour. Optimal viewing was after the moon set. Best seen was one that appeared to be streaking East to South along the horizon with a long tail and almost glitter-like afterglow. Definitely worth staying up for!
Posted by: JMartin | January 4, 2012, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
Beautiful, clear morning in NC. My husband and I saw a combined total of 26 meteors between 3:45 and 4:30. Certainly worth the early hour and the chill!
Posted by: Susan Edwards | January 4, 2012, 2:59 pm 2:59 pm
Kansas City MO here – We planned for this one in advance since we had no luck with the weather and clouds back in December. I actually saw two while standing out on the back patio while my wife was inside making the coffee for our adventure. We drove to a spot that had many visible stars in the past, but this time it was too bright out, even after the moon went down at 3am. Even at this location we counted 8 or 10 each. We drove on further from the city and found a darker location and stayed till 5:15am. The cold 31 or 32 didn’t bother me as much as my neck did and does still ha! Still it was well worth it and gives us an idea where to go to directly next time. I can’t give a number-per-hour figure but all total we each saw 20 to 25 I guess and one in particular had to be coming more or less straight into our line of sight. We both saw a light then it got brighter and brighter still then was gone though there was no typical streak. As a licensed hobbyist pyrotechnician I make rockets, stars, and comets regularly but I have to say nothing beats or even matches what nature can provide. We’ll be watching the schedule for the next event.
Posted by: Dan B | January 4, 2012, 3:05 pm 3:05 pm
Woke up at 330am to check stood outside for 30min not one single meteor… was very disappointing but I did have the most amazing dream about meteor showers… Millions just over our skies from every angle !! At least I got so see something ….. Next one will be better hopefully starting Jan 28th and having its peak on Feb 8th good luck to me and everyone who enjoys watching the skies…
Posted by: MARILU | January 4, 2012, 3:22 pm 3:22 pm
Knoxville, TN – Went outside around 2:30 am and stayed out until 4:30. I saw quite a few meteors on the very edge of the horizon, just above the treeline. Unfortunately, I am lacking in a tripod for my DSLR, so all of my photos came out blurry when I set them to long exposure. Still, it was a very beautiful sight, seeing about 5 or 6 meteors per hour.
Posted by: Kaila H. | January 4, 2012, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
Atlanta, GA–Saw one at exactly 3:00 am EST, an extremely bright one with a long yellow-orange tail. I was expecting tiny white streaks but I guess I got lucky. That was enough for me, it was so beautiful. Tried waiting another hour but saw nothing more.
Posted by: Dia | January 4, 2012, 4:10 pm 4:10 pm
We live a half mile up from the beach in Carlsbad 92011. Woke up at 2:30 am and walked out on our patio and immediately saw a very long streak from below the big dipper heading SE. The second one was very startling as I had positioned myself in a chair with head back looking toward the BD and a meteor was on a trajectory that appeared to be aiming directly toward me. I guess it burned up at least 50 miles up. After a very beautiful display of 14 counted and a few out of the corner of my eye I bailed and got back in our warm bed for a few final hours of snoozing. Wish I hung in for the pre dawn show.
Posted by: Chuck | January 4, 2012, 4:53 pm 4:53 pm
in southern NH it was 2, with a windchill of -10 (great sky, but brrrrr). went out with my 3 kids around 5:45-6:30. we probably saw 12-15 among us (so roughly 20/hr). it was the most i’ve ever seen at one time, but far from the 60-200/hr we’d heard predicted. a little disappointing given how ridiculously cold it was…
Posted by: kevin | January 4, 2012, 6:00 pm 6:00 pm
Here in Dallas TX. Got to see 18 metors between 3:45 and 5:45.Was alittle haze but not enough to distort veiw.Was a comfortable 37degs.Saw what I thought was a star just left of the big dipper that lit up and then dimmed out 3 times then it was gone,got my binoculars looked and there was no star,nothing.We are not alone.
Posted by: Scott | January 4, 2012, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm
Seeing as some goober told me they were tonight …I missed them lol!
Posted by: Naomi | January 4, 2012, 8:55 pm 8:55 pm
It was below 0 here in central Connecticut. With lots of layers of clothing, I was able to stay out all night and saw 67 meteors and 5 satellites and 1 great horned owl. The moon set while the radiant was still fairly low, leaving viewing conditions just right.
Posted by: Larry Krozel | January 5, 2012, 12:07 am 12:07 am
In Kansas i went out about 5:00 saw about 20 of them and went back inside by 5:20 it was such an amazing thing to see. sky was really clear, i really i wish i could of seen this “fireball” type thing ive read about on many sites, or at least jupiter through my telescope!
Posted by: Nathaly | January 5, 2012, 12:32 am 12:32 am
i was watching the meteor shower just before dawn and i know this is hard to believe but i saw a triangular shaped object pass overhead. it flew close to the ground and was silent. it glowed bright white and didn’t flash. i live near an airport and thought it was a twin engine plane in the distance at first. it got closer but didn’t gain altitude so i thought it was a helicopter. then i realized it was just lights approaching. i got a good look at it and it was more like the letter y equally spread out like a 3 pointed star. all 3 arms or wings glowed the same and i’d say the object was 30 to 40 feet wide. i’m pushing 60 and this was a first for me. ha ha
Posted by: dave | January 5, 2012, 12:20 pm 12:20 pm
We were heading to Key West in the middle of the night between 2 am and 5 am ( escaping the NY cold) We were on one of the many bridges and just happened to look up and see a meteor falling. Did not know there was a predicated shower till reading this.
Posted by: Leslie | January 5, 2012, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm