The Puppid-Velids meteor shower
Key facts
- Peak
- several weak maxima, the main one around 7 December
- Active
- about 1–15 December
- Rate at peak (ZHR)
- about 10 at best
- Speed
- about 40–44 km/s
- Radiant
- Puppis and Vela (a complex of several radiants)
- 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.
The Puppid-Velids are not one shower but a group of radiants in the far southern sky, active through the first half of December. They are a rewarding target for southern observers in the busy run-up to the Geminids.
A complex of radiants. Observers in Australia and New Zealand in the twentieth century noted several separate radiants in Puppis and Vela, two parts of the old giant constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, which was divided into Carina, Puppis and Vela. Rather than name each one, observers list them together as the Puppid-Velid complex. The radiants are close together in a rich part of the southern Milky Way, which makes their individual positions hard to pin down.
The parent. No parent body is known, and the different radiants may have different origins.
What to expect. Up to about ten meteors an hour in total, with several low maxima in early December, the strongest usually given around 7 December. The meteors are of medium speed. The complex is known for bright meteors and occasional fireballs.
Viewing. This is a southern shower. The radiants lie around 45 degrees south of the celestial equator, so they never rise from the UK and are very low from the southern United States. From Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and South America they are well placed, rising in the evening and highest in the hours before dawn. December nights in the southern hemisphere are short, as it is summer there, but the warm weather suits long, comfortable sessions.
Around 7–14 December, southern observers can see the Puppid-Velids, Geminids and Sigma Hydrids on the same night, which is good practice in assigning meteors to showers.
Viewing tips
- Watch from the southern hemisphere after midnight, when Puppis and Vela are high.
- Find Canopus and the False Cross to locate the area of the radiants.
- Look for bright meteors and fireballs, which this complex produces.
- Plot meteors on a chart, since the radiants are close together.
- Combine your watch with the Geminids later in the night.