Hi everyone! The January Quadrantids peak early next week - in the
morning hours of Tuesday January 4th. It's a good night with no moon,
but the sharp shower peak favors observers in Europe. Regardless, if
it's clear and you are awake, look between and below the big and little
dippers and you might see some belated but beautiful fireworks.
My JPL podcast this month features the Quadrantids, the morning planets
and a preview of next month's spacecraft flyby of comet Tempel 1.
I also wrote a blog post featuring the demoted constellation, Quadrans
Muralis. Did you even know that planets weren't the only thing to get
demoted by the International Astronomical Union? There is a good reason
for it, (for naming variable stars with a standard set of
constellations), but I sure wish Felis the cat, Gallus the rooster, and
Officina Typographica
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officina_Typographica> were on my modern
star charts.
On to the links:
JPL website videos: Top right
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
NASA page:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html
Many formats of the podcast and extra super related links:
_http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=684__
_
My NASA blog - read about the shower's radiant -- the demoted constellation
Quadrans Muralis
_http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=724
__
_Youtube - January podcast
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#p/u/0/HvIHDwYSwIk
Subscribe (free) to iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nasacast-whats-up-video-podcasts/id25287…
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ http://twitter.com/jhjones
What's Up For January Video and Blog: Quadrantids!
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews