Description

The first of the 2012 meteor showers – The Quadrantids – peaks on the night of the 3rd and 4th of January. The Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the major annual meteor showers and often performs well under ideal observing conditions. The Quadrantids can be quite impressive with a Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of up to 120 meteors per hour at their peak (under perfect conditions) and can sometimes produce rates of 60 to 200 meteors per hour. The peak is quite narrow lasting only a few hours, with activity either side of the peak sometimes being weak, but well worth observing. Due to a waxing gibbous Moon, the best time to look is after midnight and through the early hours, plenty of time for us to see the peak build up to 07:20 UT on the 4th, but the Quadrantids are active from December 28th through January 12th so we should have plenty of chances to spot some shooting stars. photo creidt NASA.gov