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Showers Coming Tonight-Meteor Showers That is

The best viewing will be in the early hours before dawn begins to break, but the chill in the air should keep the haze out of the sky to improve viewing.

The Quadrantids have a maximum rate of about 100 per hour, varying between 60-200, according to NASA. The waxing gibbous moon will set around 3 a.m. local time, leaving about two hours of excellent meteor observing before dawn. That's good, because the Quadrantids only last a few hours. It's the morning of Jan. 4, or nothing, NASA reports.

There's so much interest in this meteor shower that the Marshall Space Flight Center is setting up a live all-sky camera feed of the skies over Huntsville, AL later this afternoon.

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For an estimate of how many meteors you might be able to see per hour, check out the "Fluxtimator," developed by Peter Jenniskens and Dave Nugent of the SETI Institute. Make sure you change the settings to Quadrantids, Atlanta US and Jan. 3-4. You can select location types from city to mountaintop. Keep in mind this is for Atlanta, which has even more lights on outside at night than here. Those big horse farms in Milton should be much better for viewing.

So set your alarm for 3 a.m. bundle up (that freezing temperature makes the air crisp and clear for great viewing) and get up to look toward the northeast, but keep an eye on all the sky you can. (Tell your neighbors if you are going to do this so they don't call the police when they see people out in your backyard in the dark.)

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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