[en] P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, reports that the Volantid meteor shower (cf. CBET 4901) returned this year much as during the previous apparition on New Year's Eve 2015. Volantids were the most prominent shower from 2020 Dec. 30 to 2021 Jan. 1 (cf. those dates at website URL http://cams.seti.org/FDL/). Based on low-light video observations by the networks CAMS New Zealand (J. Baggaley), CAMS Australia (M. Towner), CAMS South Africa (T. Cooper), CAMS Namibia (T. Hanke), and CAMS Chile (S. Heathcote and E. Jehin), the shower peaked on New Year's Eve at solar longitude 280.0 +/- 0.1 degrees (equinox J2000.0), which corresponds to 2020 Dec. 31 at 12h UT. The full-width-at-half-maximum of the shower was 1.6 +/- 0.2 deg (38 +/- 5 hours), with the shower being detected over the solar- longitude range 271.95-283.91 degrees. The 247 triangulated Volantids radiated from a geocentric radiant at R.A. = 123.3 +/- 4.9 degrees, Decl. = -71.9 +/- 2.3 degrees (equinox J2000.0), with entry velocity 30.4 +/- 2.2 km/s, corresponding to the following orbital elements: q = 0.974 +/- 0.005 AU, e = 0.657 +/- 0.125, i = 50.6 +/- 2.9 degrees, Peri. = 347.7 +/- 3.6 degrees, and Node = 98.8 +/- 1.7 degrees (equinox J2000.0). Most were faint, with a magnitude distribution index of 3.8 (+0.6/-0.1). <P />T. Cooper, Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, reports from visual observations in the 3.6-hr period 2020 Dec. 29d21h00m-30d00h12m (278.330- 278.466 degrees in solar longitude) -- under limiting magnitude 5.2, full- moon observing conditions, with some scattered clouds, and the radiant rising from altitude 35.8 to 45.5 degrees -- a total of three Volantids and six other meteors, which corresponds to an average Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR) of 7.9 +/- 4.5 Volantids per hour. The night of Dec. 30-31 was overcast all night. The night of Dec. 31-Jan. 1 (solar longitude 280.284-280.461 degrees) yielded again three visual Volantids and five other meteors during 2.75 hr of observations under similar observing conditions, resulting in ZHR = 11.2 +/- 6.5 meteors/hr (cf. https://www.imo.net/members/imo_vmdb/observer/2020/138).
