Quadrantid Meteor Over Death Valley Hills

Although the Quadrantid meteor shower is known as a “strong” shower, it can be very variable from year to year and its peak is very short, so it’s a difficult one to catch.  I had calculated that the peak on the West Coast would be at 5:30 am, so I went out at 3 am to see if it was underway.  Under strong moonlight he shower did seem modest at best, but I did catch a nice big red and green fireball at 5:06 am.

Sometimes it’s easier to see meteors (and satellites) when viewing the images in a time-lapse video:

Overall I did better than the prior year, when I also caught one large fireball meteor under moonlight (and light pollution), but no discernible smaller ones:

As I look back on this post in late 2019, the 2020 Quadrantids on the night of January 3/4 look like they’ll peak under great viewing conditions, without interference of the moon after 1 am. The peak is January 4 at 12:20 a.m. PST (08:20 UTC), but the radiant point in the constellation Bootes rises to a more useful elevation in the sky around 2 am. It’s hard to predict when the apparent peak will be, on the West Coast probably in the 1:30-3:30 am time frame and on until dawn.

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