NASA scientists will observe the [Quadrantid event, Friday night] shower from a Gulfstream V jet. “We will fly to the North Pole and back to compensate for Earth’s rotation and to keep the stream in view throughout the flight,” says Peter Jenniskens, a principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center (NASA press release).

A fact curiously absent from the NASA press release, but related by a number of news sources, is that the Gulfstream in question is the private jet of Google. The space agency has an agreement with the company that allows Google to park a jet at one of its air fields in return for several million dollars and the occasional loan of a plane for science work.