One of the best meteor showers of the year will occur in the early morning hours of Wednesday, January 4th: The Quadrantids. There are expected to be between 60-200 meteors per hour. That's more than any other meteor shower this year.
So what's the catch? There's only a slim viewing window, and it's going to be cold.
The Quadrantids are only going to be visible in the northern hemisphere, looking northeast, and will be most visible from 3-4am Wednesday morning. It's possible to see some as early as 2am or as late as 5am, but part of what makes this meteor shower quirky, is the strict time-schedule that it must be viewed within.
Unlike the last few major meteor showers, where the moonlight was a bright and unwelcome viewing hindrance, the moon should be setting, and a relative non-factor. Temperatures, on the other hand, will be troublesome; mainly in the mid-20s, so bundle up!
The Quadrantids have a somewhat interesting back-history. Named after the now extinct constellation Quandrans Muralis, they are thought to occur from a comet that broke apart about 500 years ago. If you are wondering how a constellation can become extinct (like I was when I was researching this blog), it is not because the stars have died, but because it is no longer recognized by the greater astronomical community. The constellation would sit between Bootes and Draco.
So, if you can stand the cold, and are willing to wake up within a very strict time-schedule early Wednesday AM, you are in for the best two meteor showers of all of 2012.
