1st meteor shower of ’08 visible tonight
With clear skies forecast for tonight, Filipinos can witness the first meteor shower of the year, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday.
Dr. Bernardo Soriano, chief of Pagasa’s Atmospheric, Geophysical and Space Sciences Branch (AGSSB), said astronomy enthusiasts will enjoy watching the Quadrantid meteor shower starting tonight until early tomorrow morning as clear skies will prevail over the country.
“The Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the year’s best, regularly producing at least 50 to 120 meteors per hour,” Soriano said.
Soriano said meteors are visible all over the country.
According to reports, the source of the Quadrantid meteor shower was unknown until December 2003 when Peter Jenniskens of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center found evidence that Quadrantid meteoroids come from 2003 EH1, an asteroid that is probably a piece of a comet that broke apart some 500 years ago.
However, reports said the shower doesn’t last long, only a few hours.
“The reason is the Earth intersects the orbit of 2003 EH1 at a perpendicular angle, which means we quickly move through any debris. That’s why the shower is so brief,” reports said. – Helen Flores
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