Quadrantid meteor shower set to hit January 4, 2012

William Atkins
Tuesday, 03 January 2012 01:49

Science - Space

The first meteor shower of the new year 2012 is set to peak on Wednesday, January 4, 2012. People in the northern latitudes have the best chance to see these meteors, but only for a few hours on January 3/4, 2012.

The meteor shower brought to you by Quadrantid is expected to be quite bright with the Moon only barely present in the night sky of January 4th. The waxing gibbous Moon will set at around 3 a.m. in your local night sky.

Specifically, the peak for the meteors expected for the Quadrantids is about 2 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Wednesday morning (January 4, 2012) in the eastern coast of the United States, or 0700 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

For your local sky, this GMT time may relate to late Tuesday evening (January 3) or early Wednesday morning (January 4)

At its peak, about 100 to 120 meteors per hour are expected in 2012. It is possible that 200 meteors per hour will occur during the peak hours, which are only an hour or so on either sides of 0700 GMT.

The Quadrantids are named after the obsolete constellation of Quadrans Muralis (in modern times now a part of Boötes), which is found in the night sky between the constellation Boötes and the constellation Draco.

The radiant of the Quadrantids will be below the Big Dipper and to the left of the bright star Arcturus. Basically, look to the north-northeast direction in the night sky.

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