Do you like the cold? Are you part polar bear? Do you also like star gazing? Then check out the first meteor show of the year tomorrow morning.
Early tomorrow morning, the Quadrantids meteor shower will present an excellent chance to start the year off with some late-night meteor watching. Peaking in the early morning hours of January 3rd, the Quadrantids have a maximum rate of about 80 per hour, varying between 60-200. The Quadrantids only last a few hours, so tomorrow morning is it!
Like the Geminids, the Quadrantids originate from an asteroid, called 2003 EH1. Dynamical studies suggest that this body could very well be a piece of a comet which broke apart several centuries ago, and that the meteors you will see before dawn on Jan. 3 are the small debris from this fragmentation. After hundreds of years orbiting the sun, they will enter our atmosphere at 90,000 mph, burning up 50 miles above Earth’s surface — a fiery end to a long journey! via NASA
Photo by Rick Whitacre via Flickr.
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One response to “Brave the Cold and Check Out the First Meteor Shower of the Year Tomorrow Morning!”
2nd/3rd January 2013 https://yosemiteblog.com/2013/01/02/brave-the-cold-and-check-out-the-first-meteor-shower-of-the-year-tomorrow-morning/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+yosemiteblog+(Yosemite+Blog)