The annual Quadrantid Meteor Shower is expected to peak during the night of 2016 JAN 03-04. Its radiant is in the no longer official constellation Quadrans Muralis which is now part of Boötes. That is the direction toward which the meteor tails point, but the meteors are equally likely to appear anywhere in your sky. It is conjectured that the Quadrantids are debris from the asteroid 2003 EH1, which in turn may have been a castoff from comet C/1490 Y1.
The peak rate of the Quadrantids can be as great as the normally most prolific annual showers at possibly a hundred per hour for sharp eyed observers in dark skies. However the peak period of less than half a day is unusually short, thus implying a narrow stream of particles. The 2016 peak is expected on January 4 around 06:00 UT (00:00 CST).
The show begins after Boötes rises, which is around local midnight for mid-northern hemisphere observers, but later in the southern hemisphere. It will continue through morning twilight. Interference during the peak from the waning crescent Moon should be minimal.
Descriptions of the shower or perhaps even lucky photos would be welcome additions to this thread. My calendar for the major meteor showers during this decade including Moon illumination data can be found at http://ift.tt/1L2Ay6p
The peak rate of the Quadrantids can be as great as the normally most prolific annual showers at possibly a hundred per hour for sharp eyed observers in dark skies. However the peak period of less than half a day is unusually short, thus implying a narrow stream of particles. The 2016 peak is expected on January 4 around 06:00 UT (00:00 CST).
The show begins after Boötes rises, which is around local midnight for mid-northern hemisphere observers, but later in the southern hemisphere. It will continue through morning twilight. Interference during the peak from the waning crescent Moon should be minimal.
Descriptions of the shower or perhaps even lucky photos would be welcome additions to this thread. My calendar for the major meteor showers during this decade including Moon illumination data can be found at http://ift.tt/1L2Ay6p
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1OB8IRk
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