How To See Tonight’s Meteor Shower

[Sherman A1]

If you can drag yourself out of bed and into the chill of a early January morning, you might find yourself looking at a rare treat: the Quadrantid meteor shower. Early in the morning hours of January 4, from roughly 2 to 5 a.m. local time across the country, this annual meteor shower will be visible in the Northern hemisphere, peaking with an intensity that will approach 100 shooting meteors per hour.

“What’s going on is the earth is going through a debris trail,” says Timothy Spahr, astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “You’re dealing with very tiny particles, dust-sized in a lot of cases. When they enter the atmosphere, they burn up immediately, and that makes a meteor.” The particles that make up the Quadrantid shower originate from an asteroid named 2003 EH1, which many scientists believe was actually once part of a comet. Because the particles enter at speeds as high as 90,000 miles per hour, they burn up high in the atmosphere and leave a glowing streak across the sky.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/01/how-to-see-tonights-meteor-shower

[liberal N proud]

1. I live in Cleveland - The sun (or stars) never shine here

I miss seeing things like this.

[elleng]

2. Great, but the temp will about 15degrees Fahrenheit here!!!

[Speck Tater]

3. I live in Oregon. "sky" is a rumor we've all heard, but nobody really believes in it. nt

[underpants]

4. I guess I AM getting up at 4AM for a run now

kinda have to - don't want to miss this

[neverforget]

5. I wish I could see through the clouds

[tularetom]

6. I'll remember to go outside and look

about 5:30 tomorrow morning.

And once again, I'll miss it.

[PlanetBev]

7. Last time a saw a meteor was December 1961

I am not kidding. I was camping in Ventura with the Girl Scouts and we saw one streak across the sky.

That's what happens when you're born and raised in Los Angeles. Too many lights. I did get to see what millions of stars look like on the moring of the January 1994 earthquake. It was 4:30 am and we all stumbled outside in the pitch dark. It was a clear night and I just happened to look up at the sky and gasped. I forgot there were so many stars in the sky. Just Beautiful.