Quadrantid Meteor Shower Jan 3rd

On the night of January 3rd, we have the Quadrantid meteor shower when around 40 to 70 meteors per hour can be seen. The Quadrantids do have one very important claim to fame in that theirs is the only meteor shower named after a constellation that no longer exists. A meteor shower is named after the constellation the meteors appear to come from, in this case the Mural Quadrant. In 1930 when the modern constellation boundaries were defined, the Mural Quadrant was discarded, as were many other old constellations. As this meteor shower was known during the nineteenth century, we still recognise the defunct constellation in its name.   

It is believed that the Quadrantids, unlike most meteor showers, are associated not with a comet but with an asteroid, which is also the case for the Geminid meteor shower we see in December. In the case of the Quadrantids, it is believed to be asteroid 2003 EH1.

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