Quadrantid Meteor Shower, One of the Year's Best, Is Peaking Now
Early each January, the Quadrantid meteor stream provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum lasting only a few hours. And in 2017, viewing circumstances favor North Americans, especially those living west of the Mississippi River.
Meteor showers are usually the residue that collects in the orbits of comets. The Quadrantids are associated with an asteroid -- 2003 EH1. It is thought to be the nucleus fragment from a comet break-up in the 1490s. It was classified as an asteroid when it was discovered by a near-Earth asteroid telescopic survey in 2003.
At greatest activity, 60 to 120 shower members per hour should be seen. However, the Quadrantid influx is sharply peaked: 6 hours before and after maximum, these blue meteors — a color that results from layers of magnesium burning up during the meteors' entry into Earth's atmosphere — appear at only half of their highest rates. This means that the stream of particles is a narrow one, possibly derived relatively recently from a small comet.
Space.com
