JANUARY 2020 OBSERVING
Celestial Calendar by Bob King
Catch
the Quads
After a bright Moon slammed
both the Perseids and the
Geminids last year, Januaryopens with the promise of
an excellent show from theQuadrantid meteor shower.
The radiant for the Quadrantids is in northern Boötes. By 1 a.m. local time
the radiant is well above the horizon for observers at mid-northern latitudes,
with best viewing possibilities after 2 a.m. local time.I
like to think of the “Quads” as the
shower without a home. Its mete-
ors radiate from within the obsolete
constellation Quadrans Muralis, the
Mural Quadrant (which was a device
once used to measure star positions).
Joseph Jérôme de Lalande invented the
fi gure in the 1790s using a handful of
faint stars glimmering in the empty
realm north of Boötes and south of
Draco. Soon after, the quadrant made
an appearance in several star atlases,
including Johann Bode’s Uranographia,
and stuck around long enough to brand
the Quadrantids when the shower was
fi rst recognized in the 1830s.
Alas, the constellation was not uni-
versally accepted and ultimately shown
the door in the early 20th century. But
it has bequeathed its name to the fi rst
meteor shower of the new year. The
Quads peak on the night of January 3–4
with the best view in the early morning
after about 2 a.m. local time until the
start of dawn around 6 a.m. The focal
point, or radiant, of the shower stands
at the juncture of Hercules, Boötes, and
Draco and climbs high in the northeast
sky before fi rst light.
While many meteor showers are
active for several nights, the Quadran-
tids are famous for their fussiness,
with a peak typically lasting only about
6 hours. If the radiant is well-placed48 JANUARY 2020 • SKY & TELESCOPE
Quadrantid
radiantPolarisMizarArcturusBOÖTES
DRACO
URSA
MAJOR
URSA
MINOR
Big
DipperLittle DipperHERCULES
Looking NortheastQuadrantid Meteor Shower
1 am, Jan 410 °during that time at your location, you
could see up to 120 meteors per hour,
according to the American Meteor Soci-
ety. That’s an idealized number assum-
ing no Moon, the radiant at the zenith,
and pristine skies.
Off-peak you’ll see closer to 25 mete-
ors an hour from a dark site. I caught
the shower close to maximum under
clear skies just once back in the 1980s.
What a show! Meteors sparked about
one a minute across the frigid pre-dawn
sky, including a few fi reballs, a classic
Quadrantid characteristic. If you live in
North America, 2020 is the year you’ve
been waiting for. The International
Meteor Organization (IMO) puts the
peak at around 8h UT on January 4th, or
3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, favorable
for North America. The fi rst-quarter
Moon sets by 1:30 a.m., leaving a bliss-
fully black sky perfect for Quad-gazing.
My favorite way to enjoy a winter
meteor shower is to crack open the
squeaky folding chair and square it up
in the driveway. As far as which direc-
tion to face, any works, but I like to lookabout 90° either side of the radiant for
a nice mix of long- and short-trailed
meteors. Once settled in I pull a big,
wool blanket up to my chin and do
nothing for the next hour or two but
absorb the beauty of the stars and what-
ever meteors chance by.
If possible, face away from the worst
light pollution to preserve night vision
and maximize your meteor count. The
majority of meteors are faint, so the
darker the sky the more you’ll see.
If you’re planning on taking photos,
get an intervalometer for your DLSR. The
device presses the shutter button for you
at preset intervals, so you don’t have to
maintain a frozen vigil at the camera.
You can purchase one at camera shops
or online outlets including eBay. Use
a wide-angle lens with a focal length
of 35 mm or less and start with an
exposure of 30 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO- Once activated, the intervalom-
eter will snap one photo after another
while you cozy away under that blanket.
If you think frost or dew might become
a problem, rubber-band a couple of