2012 Begins With a Quadrantids Meteor Shower

A meteor shower will light up the sky on Wednesday January 4, NASA informed. At approximately 3:00 am, meteor watchers in North America will see between 60 and 200 Quadrantids meteors across the sky every hour.

Astronomers expect to view one or two meteors per minute, or even three at its peak.

This light show marks the beginning of the growing gibbous. The Quadrantids meteor takes its name from the now defunct constellation Quadrands Muralis. The first quadrantids meteor shower was first seen from the Earth in 1825.

“The shower is short. The peak of activity usually lasts a few hours and if that does not fall short interval between midnight and dawn in your part of the world, you miss it,” said Alan MacRobert, senior editor of Sky & Telescope magazine.

(MS)