Quadrantids 2012

The annual Quadrantids meteor shower is expected to show its traditional short but intense peak in the morning of January 4th, in the hours surrounding 7h Universal Time. Alastair McBeath writes in the 2012 Shower Calendar: Waxing gibbous moonset for the predicted Quadrantid maximum leaves several dark-sky hours for visual observing before morning twilight begins from northern hemisphere sites this year. From many such places, the shower’s radiant is circumpolar, in northern Boötes, first attaining a useful elevation after local midnight, improving steadily later, making this a reasonably favourable return.

The activity graph below is updated every 15 minutes, based on visual observations submitted by citizen scientists through the IMO report form – click for details.