How many Quadrantids will you see? Most years under clear, moonless conditions, observers count 60 to 200 meteors per hour from a dark site (with an average of about 120).
The shower’s radiant (the point from which the meteors seem to originate) lies in the northern part of the constellation Boötes the Herdsman
, which will lie low in the eastern sky at midnight and overhead at dawn. The Quadrantids get their name from the defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis the Mural Quadrant, which used to occupy this region of sky. This region climbs some 60° high in the northeast by the time morning twilight begins.Quadrantid facts
- The defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis the Mural Quadrant originally sat between the right foot of Hercules, the left hand of Boötes, and Draco. It represented the mural quadrant of French astronomer Jérome Lalande (1732–1807). Lalande used his quadrant to chart some 50,000 stars, while at the College of France. French globe-maker J. Fortin introduced Quadrans Muralis as a constellation in his atlas of 1795.
- The Quadrantid meteor shower originates from a near-Earth asteroid named 2003 EH1. Although astronomers classify 2003 EH1 as an asteroid, most believe it to be a dead comet. Observers first recognized the Quadrantids as an annual meteor shower in 1839.