Categories: Google+

Meteor Streaking Past Leo

Here's a closer look at the meteor which streaked past the constellation Leo a couple of nights ago, which you can also see in the video I posted yesterday.  I had heard that there might be a meteor shower coming from Leo, so I had my camera track the constellation for a couple of hours, shooting almost continuously.  While I did catch this bright, colorful and long meteor streak, it's long because it has a flat trajectory, not coming at us from this point in the sky.  So it's actually from a point far across the sky.

Ten minutes earlier I caught smaller meteor trail with a similar trajectory, so if they're related they may have come from the same source, which appears to be near the Big Dipper.  That's where the radiant point for the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaked on January 3 is, so they're probably late Quadrantids.  They're a day or two later than the Quadrantids are generally accepted as being active, but try telling that to these little chunks of comet dust.

I wrote a blog post on my pursuit of the potential meteor shower from Comet ISON this week: 
Meteor Shower from Comet ISON?
http://activesole.blogspot.com/2014/01/meteor-shower-from-comet-ison.html

#astronomy   #astrophotography   #meteorshower  

Meteor adjacent to the constellation Leo, January 13, 2014. It’s probably a late meteor from the radiant point of the Quadrantid shower, not the piece of Comet ISON which could have been radiating from the constellation Leo.

Google+: Reshared 33 times
Google+: View post on Google+

Jeff Sullivan

Jeff Sullivan leads landscape photography workshops in national parks and public lands throughout California and the American West.

View Comments

Recent Posts

Photographic Composition: Conception and Fine Tuning

This was one of those "stop the car" moments. Snowy Telescope Peak had nice side…

4 months ago

Geminid Meteor Shower 2023

The Geminids are the most active meteor shower of the year, and in recent years…

6 months ago

When Is The Best Time To Visit Bodie State Historic Park?

I was asked this question earlier today, and the more I thought of it, the…

8 months ago

Death Valley Wildflowers, Rainfall and Super Blooms

So called "super bloom" years make it easy to find wildflowers in Death Valley, but…

1 year ago

Night and Landscape Photography Workshops 2022-2023

We've reached a major milestone on our workshop program: we celebrated completing ten years of…

2 years ago

Death Valley “Adventure Series” Trip March/April 2022

Spring 2022 is shaping up to be a very busy year in Death Valley, like…

2 years ago

This website uses cookies.