1~3~11~ Space Weather Update~ CME Hurling towards Mercury~
MERCURY-DIRECTED CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) that blasted away from the farside of the sun yesterday is heading for Mercury. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, it should hit the innermost planet on Jan. 3rd around 16:30 UT. [forecast track]
QUADRANTID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is about to pass through a stream of debris from 2003 EH1, a comet fragment that produces the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak around 07:20 UT (02:20 am EST) on Wednesday morning, January 4th. At maximum, as many as 100 meteors/hour could emerge from a radiant near Polaris, the north star.
Brian Emfinger of Ozark, Arkansas, photographed this one on Jan. 2nd:
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Wow! What a really nice fireball," says Emfinger. "It emerged very very close to the Quadrantid radiant, but I'm not 100% sure it is indeed an early Quadrantid."
One thing's for sure: It's a good reason to wake up early on Wednesday morning. Stay tuned for Quads! [more]