|
Credit & Copyright: Cheng Luo
Explanation:
Named for a
forgotten
constellation, the
Quadrantid Meteor Shower
puts on an annual show for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers.
The shower's radiant on the sky
lies within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation
Quadrans
Muralis.
That location is not far from the Big Dipper,
at the boundaries of the modern constellations Bootes and Draco.
In fact north star Polaris is just below center in this frame and
the Big Dipper asterism (known to some as
the Plough) is above it,
with the meteor shower radiant to the right.
Pointing back toward the radiant,
Quadrantid meteors streak through the night in the panoramic
skyscape, a composite of images taken in the hours around
the shower's peak on January 4, 2022.
Arrayed in the foreground are radio telescopes of the
Chinese
Spectral Radioheliograph,
Mingantu Observing Station, Inner Mongolia, China.
A likely source of the dust stream that produces
Quadrantid meteors was identified
in 2003
as an asteroid.
Status Updates:
Deploying the
James Webb Space Telescope
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: meteor shower
Publications with words: meteor shower
See also: