# Meteor Showers Down Under

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-showers-down-under/94438>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-showers-down-under/94438 "2001-11-20T17:46:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-showers-down-under/94438/1 "2001-11-20T17:46:05Z")

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I am an active amateur astronomer, and this question has just hit me: Are there meteor showers with a radiant point below the celestial equator? All the charts I’ve seen list annual meteor originating in constellations above the celestial equator. (FYI: People living below the earth’s equator can still see some of the northern sky, like Leo, depending on their latitude.) The Orionids shower might be the closest to an exception, since Orion lies on the celestial equator.

Anyway, the books tend to be biased towards a perspective of +40 latitude. The southern sky maps often take a back seat. So, are there southern showers these books fail to mention? (Also, are there astronomy books in Brazil and Australia, for example, written from the southern hemisphere perspective? I wager, of course there are!)

So, what are these showers called, and what time of year do they occur?

Hoping some “Down Under” Dopers might know more…

- Jinx

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**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-showers-down-under/94438/2 "2001-11-20T20:06:11Z")

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Okay, I’ll give you a WAG for a bump, until a southern hemisphere star-gazer can give you a better answer.

Meteor showers only occur close to the ecliptic, the path the Sun and the planets take through the sky, because recurring meteor showers are due to the remnants of short-period comets, which are usually confined to the ecliptic, which is pretty close to the celestial equator and thus can be seen anywhere in the world.

In other words, meteor showers are usually in zodiacal constellations or their neighbors.

Hope this helps (and is at least half right.)

Signed,  
Podkayne  
Who has never seen the Southern Cross or the Magellanic Clouds. ☹

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-showers-down-under/94438/3 "2001-11-21T04:13:03Z")

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[try this](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22southern+hemisphere%22+site%3A.comets.amsmeteors.org&btnG=Google+Search)

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**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteor-showers-down-under/94438/4 "2001-11-21T04:15:51Z")

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My family in Western Australia was looking forward to seeing the Leonids last weekend, but heavy cloud cover obscured them. We got a fairly limited look here in HK though (too much ambient light).