The peak of the Quadrantids was predicted to happen a few hours after sunrise this morning (Tucson time, MST). Activity was elevated and 13 Quadrantids from 2 Tucson cameras and 20 from a sole San Diego camera is a dramatic increase compared to only 1 total (TUS and SDG) from the previous night. Still it was a poor showing compared to last year when a single Tucson camera picked up 73 Quadrantids.
There have been few reports of Quadrantid activity from last night. Most likely many observers took a pass on watching the shower due to the bright moonlight.
Bob’s notes from the night of Jan 2/3 : “Despite the bright moon, it was a good night for meteor activity. It was totally clear all night long except for a few patches of thin cirrus that occasionally drifted by. In addition to the Quadrantids, the sporadic count was abnormally high. My first thought was that perhaps some Quadrantids were misidentified as sporadics. After a close inspection of the plots it was determined that this was not the case.”
Obs Date(UT) Time TOT SPO ANT DLM AHY JLE QUA TUS 2010-01-03 10h 01m 30 12 2 3 0 0 13 SDG 2010-01-03 11h 59m 75 43 6 3 2 1 20 TUS - Camera in Tucson operated by Carl Hergenrother SDG - Camera in San Diego operated by Bob Lunsford TotTime - Total amount of time each camera looked for meteors TOT - Total number of meteors detected SPO - Sporadics (meteors not affiliated with any particular meteor shower) ANT - Antihelions DLM - December Leonis Minorids AHY - Alpha Hydrids JLE - January Leonids QUA - Quadrantids
hey i seen a red ball in the sky going in a horizontal direction looked ike a ball of fire i got two pictures but dont know what it is and the time i seen it was 11.20pm at 3rd of jan 2010 in ireland