Quadrantid fireball photographed in 1995 by Hans Betlem, Dutch Meteor Society. The meteor image was interrupted by a rotating shutting, enabling us to measure the meteoroid's speed.
QUADRANTID SHOWER EXCEPTIONALLY WELL VISIBLE ON SUNDAY MORNING JANUARY 04
The Quadrantid shower will be visible under unusually good circumstances from the United States and Europe during the early morning of Sunday January 04, 2004. The peak of the shower is at 7:30 UT (08:30 a.m. MET, 02:30 a.m. EST, 23:30 p.m. PST), but the highest meteor rates are only visible in the early morning hours just before dawn, when the Moon has set. Observers in Europe and on the US east coast may see up to 62 meteors/hr, while observers on the west coast will see up to 49 meteors/hr under transparent clear skies in the 2-3 hours before dawn on Sunday morning.
Local time New York San Francisco Paris
(EST) (PST) (MET)
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Jan 03 - 23:00 p.m. 4* 0 4* Quadrantids/hour
Jan 04 - 00:00 a.m. 12* 7* 4*
Jan 04 - 01:00 a.m. 25* 23* 8*
Jan 04 - 02:00 a.m. 46* 39* 12*
Jan 04 - 03:00 a.m. 64* 46* 18*
Jan 04 - 04:00 a.m. 65 49 25*
Jan 04 - 05:00 a.m. 62 49 34
Jan 04 - 06:00 a.m. 58 46 46
Jan 04 - 07:00 a.m. -.- -.- 59
Jan 04 - 08:00 a.m. -.- -.- 76
moon sets 04:53 05:00 06:02 a.m. Start of good observing
civil twilight 06:50 06:53 08:05 a.m. End of observations
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Rates marked "*" are apparent "No-Moon rates",
the bright Moon will still surpress rates.
Phase of the Moon on 4 January: waxing gibbous
with 91% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.
The unique Quadrantid shower.
The Quadrantid shower is unique in that the meteoroids were released during the breakup of a comet nucleus and therefore originate from deep within the comet. They represent relatively large mm-cm sized fragments. Those are larger than the small dust grains collected by the Stardust mission when it will pass by comet Wild 2 on January 02. 2003 EH_1 may facilitate future astrobiology missions of an inactive, but relatively fresh comet surface in search of prebiotic molecules that may have been the building blocks of life.
