April 30th, 2008
May Times column up
Posted by
chrislintott in
Times
My column describing the May night sky is up over at the Times. Please click through if you have a chance. I was genuinely in two minds about what to write about the Eta Aquarid meteor shower; there’s a complete division between those predicting an excellent shower (60-80 ZHR*) and those expecting more normal rates (20-30). In either case, the low radiant doesn’t help, but in the end I decided that uncertainty just provides more of an incentive to go and look. I shall be getting up early on the 5th anyway as I’m heading down to Devon for Torquay United’s crucial play-off game, so I’ll report back.
* ZHR - Zenith Hourly Rate - the number of meteors an observer would see if the radiant were directly overhead.
