Abstract
ON the night of January 3 some fine meteors were observed here. It is doubtful, however, if any of them were directly connected with the radiant that has given this early January shower its name. Possibly the first meteors observed shortly before ten o'clock may have issued from the neighbourhood of Boötes, as it shot upwards from the direction of the Great Bear with a brilliancy sufficient to attract attention in a lighted thoroughfare, from where, however, its starting point could not be clearly ascertained. During a watch kept under more favourable conditions for observation, between 10.30 and 11.30 G.M.T., four or five shooting stars were observed, the brightest of which scarcely equalled a second magnitude star, its path extending from Gemini to the east of Ursas Major. The others were seen flashing to the east of the latter constellation with no well-defined centre of radiation. It should have been stated that in a ten minuites' watch between 10 and 10.30 a stationary meteor more brilliant than a first magnitude star appeared for about half a second midway between the Quardrantid radiant and Ursa Major. This was the only meteor seen that may perhaps be regarded as comformable to the radiant proper, though almost exclusive attention was given to that part of the sky. Though occasionally a look out was kept from 12 to 1 a.m., no shooting stars were seen, but in an unbroken watch from 1.15 to 1.45 a.m. a brilliant bolide was observed at 1.40 gliding down evidently from the neighbourhood of Gemini towards the Great Bear, and throwing off several fragments near the end of its path. It was the brightest meteor seen during the night. The night of the 3rd was very fine here, though a few clouds interfered somewhat with observation between 10 and 10.30.
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HENRY, J. The Quadrantid Meteors, 1902. Nature 65, 272 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065272a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065272a0
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