Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 29 December 2021 17:00

Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th January 2022

The evening of Monday 3rd into the morning of Tuesday 4th sees the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower, so named because the radiant point where the meteors appear to originate from is near the constellation of Quadrans Muralis.

Hang on......there is no constellation called that! Well there used to be! The constellation was named by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande back in 1795. Over the years, the number of stars was reduced so that it didn't clash and cause confusion with the constellations of Bootes and Draco. Then in 1922 the International Astronomical Union deleted Quadrans from its list of 88 officially recognised constellations.

So let's start again........the radiant point is located to the left of the constellation Bootes, slightly down and left from the tail of Ursa Major. At midnight, you will need to be looking towards the north east.

The Quadrantids is famous for producing a high number of bright meteors and this year it coincides with an almost New Moon, so there will be minimal light pollution.

I should mention a very exciting piece of space news that took place over the Christmas holidays - the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope that is intended to be the replacement for Hubble. It left Earth on Christmas Day and is currently heading towards its destination a million miles away from us - no cloud up there!

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/

Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2021