Quadrantid this..!!

...

While the Perseid and Leonid meteor showers seem to get all the publicity, there are a few others that make regular visits to North America.

One is the Quadrantid meteor shower that peaks in January. Somehow it does not seem especially enticing to be out in the elements in the middle of winter. But that does not stop some fools from staying up to nearly dawn and driving miles out into the frozen countryside to view a meteor shower in Iowa.

My daughter had seen an online article about the Quadrantid meteor showers that occurred last night and decided that she wanted to 'go see them'.

Okay . . ..

Image source: Spaceweather dot com

These showers are actually expected to be one of the best displays of this year, 2009. While some sources cite meteor rates of up to a hundred per hour for the Quadrantids, we saw nothing near that rate earlier this morning. Though we did see several that looked like this shot by another viewer of this morning's shower:

Image source: Jodie Reynolds via Spaceweather dot com

It was very peaceful out in the Iowa countryside, far away from the nearest farmstead or highway. That it was as cold as a walk-in refrigerator and the wind blew like a dervish was just a minor inconvenience.


So if you get a chance to go sit in the dark and cold with your daughter in the middle of winter ... go for it. What is the saying..?? Oh yeah . . .priceless..!!


...tom...