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(meteorobs) Meteor Activity Outlook for February 7-13, 2003



The moon reaches its first quarter phase on Sunday February 9. At this 
time the moon will set near midnight and will allow early morning 
observers a dark sky free of midnight. Towards the end of the period the 
moon will be approaching full and will not set until the last few hours 
before dawn. The estimated total hourly rates for evening observers this 
week should be near 1 for everyone regardless of location. For morning 
observers the estimated total hourly rates should be near 12 for those 
located in the Northern Hemisphere and 20 for those in the Southern 
Hemisphere. These rates assume that you are watching from rural areas 
away from all sources of light pollution. The actual rates will also 
depend on factors such as personal light and motion perception, local 
weather conditions, alertness and experience in watching meteor 
activity. Moonlight will reduce rates seen during the evening hours this 
week.

The positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday morning 
February 8/9. The positions do not change greatly day to day so these 
positions may be used during this entire period. Most star atlases 
(available at science stores and libraries) will provide maps with grid 
lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out exactly 
where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or computer 
planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time of 
night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen 
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south 
along the meridian, depending on your location. Meteor activity is not 
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The radiants 
below are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension 
(celestial longitude). The radiants listed first are located further 
west therefore are accessible earlier in the night while those listed 
last rise later in the night. This list also provides the order of 
ascending velocity for each radiant with those listed first usually 
being much slower than those last on the list. Velocity should not be 
the prime factor for shower association as all showers can produce slow 
meteors. Slow meteors can be produced from normally swift showers, such 
as the Leonids, when meteors appear near the radiant or close to the 
horizon. The true velocity is only revealed in shower members seen far 
from the radiant and high in the sky. The following radiants will be 
active this week:

The Delta Velids is a shower listed among the radiants of the Dutch 
Meteor Society. The date of maximum activity is February 14 with a 
predicted ZHR of 2. Current rates would also be less than one shower 
member per hour. With such low activity care must be ta