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 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/id252873558
--
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