The Gamma Normids meteor shower
Key facts
- Peak
- around 14–15 March
- Active
- late February to late March
- Rate at peak (ZHR)
- usually 1–2; around 6 or more in some years
- Speed
- about 56 km/s
- Radiant
- Norma (near the star Gamma² Normae, close to the border with Ara)
- Parent body
- Unknown
Dates shift slightly from year to year. This year's peak is in the events calendar, and the meteor-shower planner shows how high the radiant climbs from where you live, night by night.
March is the quietest month in the meteor calendar, and the Gamma Normids are one of the few named showers to brighten it, mainly for observers in the southern hemisphere.
History. The shower was first noticed on 13 March 1929 by Ronald McIntosh, an amateur astronomer in Auckland, New Zealand, who saw meteors coming from the border of Norma and Ara. Another New Zealand observer confirmed it in 1932. Radar at Adelaide in Australia detected it in March 1953, and it was picked up again by radar in 1969. Visual observers in later decades reported rates of about 10 an hour in 1983 and a peak of around 14 an hour on one night in 2005, though such figures carry wide uncertainty. Many other years have shown almost nothing.
That inconsistency matters. Video networks in the 2010s found the shower only weakly, and it has been dropped from the main international working list of visual showers, though it remains a recognised stream. It is a reminder that a shower name does not guarantee a display.
The radiant. Norma, the Carpenter's Square, is a small, faint constellation in the Milky Way between Scorpius and Centaurus. The radiant lies close to Gamma² Normae. It is a deep southern radiant, best placed for Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and South America.
The parent. No parent body has been identified.
What to expect. Most years bring only one or two meteors an hour, rising to perhaps six around the peak in better years. The meteors are swift, and many leave brief trains. The radiant rises around midnight and climbs through the early morning, so the hours before dawn are best.
Viewing. From the UK, Europe and most of North America the radiant never rises high enough to be useful. Southern observers should watch from midnight to dawn around 13–15 March and record counts carefully, since every good observation helps to settle how active this shower really is.
Viewing tips
- Watch from the southern hemisphere between midnight and dawn.
- Look below and to the left of the Scorpion's head as it rises to find Norma.
- Count for at least an hour, as rates are low and patchy.
- Record how much of your sky is clear and how faint a star you can see.
- Treat this as a survey: even a night with no Gamma Normids is useful data.