Quadrantids Meteor Rain |
Quadrantids meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers of the year. The number of meteors reaches 100 pieces per hour. Origin of this meteor shower radiant is near the constellation Bootes, which is located in the northern hemisphere sky.
Slightly different from naming other meteor showers, meteor shower is named after the constellation that is now no longer exists. Constellation in question is quadran muralist. Constellation discovered by J. Lalande in 1795 is located near the tail of Ursa Major, in between Bootes and Draco. This constellation mural quadrant shows the tool, which is used to determine the position of celestial bodies.
Rasi quadran muralist (Source: www.pa.msu.edu)
This meteor shower occurs in the first week of January, with the peak being on January 3. Bootes constellation will rise about 2 o'clock in the morning, so this will be a meteor shower can be seen better around 3, after the direction radiannya already quite high in the eastern sky.
Observing the Quadrantids meteor shower (Source: science.nasa.gov)
The meteor shower was first observed in 1825. But his position at the far north causing this meteor shower often can not be observed properly. Because in January, the northern hemisphere experiencing winter, so the sky is not too friendly. In addition, because the peak of the meteor shower only lasted about 2 hours.
In contrast to most other meteor showers, meteor material origin is not known with certainty. The presumption is that the source of comet meteor shower has been destroyed long ago.
Aurora and Quadrantids meteors (Source: APOD)
