- meteor trail
- Big Dipper
- "bowl" of the Little Dipper
dim meteor trail
The Quadrantid meteor shower reached its peak the morning of January 3, 2009. Most of the meteors were slow and fairly dim (magnitude +2 to +3, or as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper), unlike the more typical brighter shooting stars of the more famous Perseids and Leonids. In the hour or so I spent watching for meteors, I saw several dozen, including a very short burst where I saw one every five seconds. The one pictured is below the bowl of the Big Dipper, which is partially cut off at the top.
Though the meteor was as bright as the Dipper stars, it appears much dimmer here because the stars were overexposed for 10 seconds, while the meteor was visible for only a fraction of a second.
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