Archive
12/31/2017 – Ephemeris Extra – January 2018 preview
This isn’t going to be recorded as an actual program. I’m not sure how much information one could retain at 6 or 7 New Years Day morning.
Year end is a busy time astronomically with Earth’s perihelion and the Quadrantid meteor shower following rapidly on New Years day
Let’s look ahead at January 2018. Tuesday the 2nd is the date of the latest sunrise. The Sun is already beginning to head north, as can be seen in the sunset time on the 1st, 11 minutes later than at its earliest three weeks ago. Both sunrise and sunset will be moving in January with sunrise time at 8:20 a.m. and sunset time at 5:12 p.m. on the 1st moving to 8:02 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. at month’s end. The sun’s altitude at noon will increase from 22 degrees on the 1st to nearly 28 degrees by the 31st. The Earth will reach its closest to the Sun in its orbit, called perihelion, on the 2nd at 91.4 million miles (147.1 million km).
We’ll have a full moon on the 1st and the 31st, the so-called blue moon. Both those moons will be super moons, occurring at or near perigee. On top of all that the full moon on the 31st will be totally eclipsed. We in Michigan will see nearly the first half of the eclipse before the Moon sets at 8:04 in the grand Traverse area. Folks farther west will see more, if not all of the eclipse. February will have no full moons, so March again will have two full moons.
The Quadrantid meteor shower will reach peak on the 3rd, in the afternoon. The radiant is circumpolar here, being off the handle of the Big Dipper. Mercury will reach its greatest western elongation on the 1st and be visible shortly before sunrise for the next week rising after 6:30, but brightening a bit each day. It’s not a particularly favorable elongation, now that winter is here. The next evening elongation in March will be a lot better. Venus will be in superior conjunction with the Sun on the 9th and will enter the evening sky, but don’t look for it this month. Mars and Jupiter will have a close conjunction on the 6th. It will look about equally OK on the morning of the 6th or 7th around here because it occurs on the evening of the 6th, when they are not up.
Addenda
January Evening Sky Chart
Star Chart for January 2018 (9 p.m. January 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian. during EDT and 45 minutes behind our daylight standard time meridian. during EST). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) or 45 minutes (Standard Time) earlier than the current time if you are near your time meridian.
Note the chart times of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour. For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.
January Morning Star Chart
Star Chart for January 2018 mornings based on 6 a.m. January 15th. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
- The Summer Triangle is in red
- QuadR is the Quadrantid meteor shower radiant. Peaks on January 2nd, but the almost full moon will interfere this year.
Twilight
Evening nautical twilight ends at 6:22 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 6:55 p.m. EST on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:57 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 7:29 p.m. EST on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:35 a.m. EST on the 1st, and decreasing to 6:23 a.m. EST on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 7:10 a.m. EST on the 1st, and decreasing to 6:57 a.m. EST on the 31st.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Jan 01 Mo Venus: 1.9° W
01 Mo 2:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 22.7° W
01 Mo 4:54 pm Moon Perigee: 356600 km
01 Mo 7:01 pm Moon North Dec.: 20.1° N
01 Mo 9:24 pm Full Moon
02 Tu 9:59 pm Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
03 We 2:50 pm Moon-Beehive: 2.3° N
03 We 3:19 pm Quadrantid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 120
04 Th 2:48 am Moon Ascending Node
05 Fr 2:24 am Moon-Regulus: 0.9° S
06 Sa 7:39 pm Mars-Jupiter: 0.2° N
08 Mo 5:25 pm Last Quarter
09 Tu 1:16 am Venus Superior Conjunction w/Sun
11 Th 12:59 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.7° S
13 Sa 2:58 am Mercury-Saturn: 0.7° N
14 Su 9:09 pm Moon Apogee: 406500 km
14 Su 9:13 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.9° S
15 Mo 11:28 am Moon South Dec.: 20° S
16 Tu 9:17 pm New Moon
18 Th 9:28 am Moon Descending Node
24 We 5:20 pm First Quarter
27 Sa 5:09 am Moon-Aldebaran: 0.7° S
29 Mo 6:32 am Moon North Dec.: 20° N
30 Tu 4:54 am Moon Perigee: 359000 km
31 We 2:19 am Moon-Beehive: 2.3° N
31 We 8:27 am Full Moon
31 We 8:30 am Total Lunar Eclipse (See Below)
31 We 1:46 pm Moon Ascending Node
Feb 01 Th Venus: 5.7° E
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year
or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
January, 2018 Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Mon 1| 08:20a 05:13p 08:52 | 06:23p 07:09a |Full Rise 05:11p 100%|
|Tue 2| 08:20a 05:13p 08:53 | 06:24p 07:09a | Rise 06:18p 99%|
|Wed 3| 08:20a 05:14p 08:54 | 06:25p 07:10a | Rise 07:30p 95%|
|Thu 4| 08:20a 05:15p 08:55 | 06:25p 07:10a | Rise 08:44p 88%|
|Fri 5| 08:19a 05:16p 08:56 | 06:26p 07:10a | Rise 09:56p 80%|
|Sat 6| 08:19a 05:17p 08:58 | 06:27p 07:09a | Rise 11:05p 70%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 7| 08:19a 05:19p 08:59 | 06:28p 07:09a | Rise 12:12a 60%|
|Mon 8| 08:19a 05:20p 09:00 | 06:29p 07:09a |L Qtr Rise 01:17a 49%|
|Tue 9| 08:19a 05:21p 09:02 | 06:30p 07:09a | Rise 02:19a 39%|
|Wed 10| 08:18a 05:22p 09:03 | 06:31p 07:09a | Rise 03:20a 30%|
|Thu 11| 08:18a 05:23p 09:05 | 06:32p 07:09a | Rise 04:19a 22%|
|Fri 12| 08:18a 05:24p 09:06 | 06:33p 07:08a | Rise 05:16a 14%|
|Sat 13| 08:17a 05:25p 09:08 | 06:34p 07:08a | Rise 06:11a 8%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 14| 08:17a 05:27p 09:10 | 06:36p 07:08a | Rise 07:02a 4%|
|Mon 15| 08:16a 05:28p 09:11 | 06:37p 07:07a | Rise 07:49a 1%|
|Tue 16| 08:15a 05:29p 09:13 | 06:38p 07:07a |New Set 05:21p 0%|
|Wed 17| 08:15a 05:31p 09:15 | 06:39p 07:06a | Set 06:17p 1%|
|Thu 18| 08:14a 05:32p 09:17 | 06:40p 07:06a | Set 07:15p 3%|
|Fri 19| 08:14a 05:33p 09:19 | 06:41p 07:05a | Set 08:15p 8%|
|Sat 20| 08:13a 05:34p 09:21 | 06:42p 07:05a | Set 09:17p 14%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 21| 08:12a 05:36p 09:23 | 06:44p 07:04a | Set 10:20p 21%|
|Mon 22| 08:11a 05:37p 09:25 | 06:45p 07:04a | Set 11:24p 30%|
|Tue 23| 08:10a 05:38p 09:28 | 06:46p 07:03a | Set 12:30a 40%|
|Wed 24| 08:10a 05:40p 09:30 | 06:47p 07:02a |F Qtr Set 01:38a 51%|
|Thu 25| 08:09a 05:41p 09:32 | 06:48p 07:01a | Set 02:48a 62%|
|Fri 26| 08:08a 05:43p 09:34 | 06:50p 07:01a | Set 03:59a 72%|
|Sat 27| 08:07a 05:44p 09:37 | 06:51p 07:00a | Set 05:09a 82%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 28| 08:06a 05:45p 09:39 | 06:52p 06:59a | Set 06:14a 90%|
|Mon 29| 08:05a 05:47p 09:42 | 06:53p 06:58a | Set 07:13a 96%|
|Tue 30| 08:04a 05:48p 09:44 | 06:55p 06:57a | Set 08:04a 100%|
|Wed 31| 08:02a 05:50p 09:47 | 06:56p 06:56a |Full Rise 06:15p 100%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Total Lunar Eclipse January 31, 2018
I’ll have more on this toward the end of the month. Credit NASA.
The original page for this graphic is: https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2018Jan31T.pdf
Total Lunar Eclipse January 31
Event Time EST Time UT
GT Area
Enter penumbra 5:51 a.m. 10:51 Unseen
Begin partial phase 6:48 a.m. 11:48
Totality begins 7:51 a.m. 12:51
Moon sets 8:04 a.m.
Mid eclipse 13:28
Totality ends 14:07
End partial phase 15:11
Leave penumbra 16:08 Unseen
The shading of the penumbra is generally seen within 1/2
hour before and after the partial begins and ends.
Update
Our bird feeder at about 2 p.m. It was cleaned off and filled 6 hours before. Dining are a downy woodpecker, behind the suet block; a flicker with a seed in its beak and three chickadees. Can you spot the third?
While I was writing this post on the afternoon of the 30th, we were getting a rather intense lake effect snow storm, at about an inch an hour. By nightfall the snow on top of the feeder just about reached the hook. We also get cardinals, blue jays, sparrows. Poor juncos. They seem to feed on the ground, and the snow came too fast and covered the seed that had dropped, so they were looking in vain.
I really love the chickadees, they’re fearless. When I’m filling the bird feeder the other birds scatter, but the chickadees sit in the tree, a couple of feet over my head and wait patiently until I hang it back up.
01/01/2016 – Ephemeris – Happy New Year – It’s a busy few days to start off the year
Happy New Year. This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for New Years Day, Friday, January 1st, 2016. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:54 tomorrow morning.
It’s always a busy time, astronomically speaking, around the start of the year. This year even more so. Comet Catalina is found near the bright star Arcturus now, which is a good way to find it in binoculars. Tomorrow at 7:59 p.m. (1:59 UT 3rd) the Earth will reach perihelion, the closest point in its orbit to the Sun at about 91.4 million miles (0.9833 AU). It doesn’t add much to the heat we get from the Sun, but it does make winter a couple of days shorter than summer. Monday at 3 a.m. will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. Unfortunately that’s about the time the Moon will rise. The radiant is north of the handle of the Big Dipper. Good news: tomorrow is the latest sunrise, it should be rising earlier until June.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
January Star Chart
Star Chart for January 2016. Created using my LookingUp program. To enlarge in Firefox Right-click on image then click View Image.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST. That is chart time. Note, Traverse City is located 45 minutes behind our time meridian. To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:22 p.m. EST on January 1st, increasing to 6:55 p.m. EST on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 7:09 a.m. EST on January 1st, and decreasing to 6:57 a.m. EST on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- QuadR is the Quadrantid meteor shower radiant
Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Time. Some additions made to aid clarity.
Date Local Event Time EST Jan 01 Fr Venus: 37.9° W 02 Sa 12:30 a.m. Last Quarter 02 Sa 6:53 a.m. Moon Apogee: 404300 km 02 Sa 7:59 p.m. Perihelion: 0.9833 AU 03 Su 1:45 p.m. Moon-Mars: 1.6° S 04 Mo 3:01 a.m. Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120 06 We 6:57 p.m. Moon-Venus: 3.3° S 06 We 11:57 p.m. Moon-Saturn: 3.6° S 07 Th 6:32 a.m. Venus-Antares: 6.4° N 08 Fr 12:56 p.m. Moon South Dec.: 18.4° S 09 Sa 2:42 a.m. Venus-Saturn: 0.1° N 09 Sa 8:30 p.m. New Moon 14 Th 9:02 a.m. Mercury Inferior Conj. 14 Th 10:48 a.m. Moon Descending Node 14 Th 9:10 p.m. Moon Perigee: 369600 km 16 Sa 6:26 p.m. First Quarter 19 Tu 9:16 p.m. Moon-Aldebaran: 0.5° S (Occultation*) 21 Th 11:41 a.m. Moon North Dec.: 18.4° N 23 Sa 8:46 p.m. Full Moon 26 Tu 12:10 a.m. Moon-Regulus: 2.8° N 27 We 6:58 p.m. Moon Ascending Node 27 We 8:14 p.m. Moon-Jupiter: 1.6° N 30 Sa 4:10 a.m. Moon Apogee: 404600 km 31 Su 10:28 p.m. Last Quarter Feb 01 Mo Venus: 31.4° W
* Occultation of Aldebaran For the Grand Traverse Area ± 1-2 minutes:
Disappearance 9:06 p.m. Reappearance 10:25 p.m. I’ll have more information on the 19th.
Occultation Map
Occultation visibility map for January 20, 2016 (UT). Credit IOTA/Occult4 program.
Estimating occultation timings for your location
I used Cartes du Ciel the free software that I have a link to on the right. Make sure that the program is set for topocentric positions under Setup/Solar System. And you have entered your position under Setup/Observatory. You can find your location in Google Earth, or your GPS device or smart phone.
You can also use Stellarium. Just make sure the Moon is normal sized.
In both programs you can lock the Moon or Aldebaran in the center of the screen Pick a time in advance of the occultation and using the set time window walk the star towards the Moon, mark the time. Then walk the star out from the Moon and record the reappearance time. That’s it.
This should work with other planetarium programs too.
For better accuracy go to the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) website. Download and install their Occult4 program for Windows computers. Follow the instructions. When I ran the program for my location, the location I use for Interlochen/Traverse City (Since I live approximately half-way between the two). I got results within a half-minute of the IOTA Occult4 program results. So the approximation method using these planetarium programs is valid.
Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina)
The track of Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) for January 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The comet is roughly one magnitude fainter than given. Comet is plotted every day at 4 a.m. EST (9 hr UT) with the date and magnitude labeled every 5th day. According to the brightness graph the comet began to under perform in brightness back in September, however, according to a new brightness formula the comet may increase in brightness by a magnitude by late February when it will be well placed for viewing all night. To monitor the brightness reports from observers go to http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2013US10/2013US10.html.
xxxvvvvv
01/02/2015 – Ephemeris – Telescope Clinic tonight in Traverse City
Ephemeris for Friday, January 2nd. The sun will rise at 8:20, the latest sunrise of the year. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 5:13. The moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:38 tomorrow morning.
Did you or someone in your family get a telescope for Christmas, or have one in a closet or attic because you don’t know how to put it together or operate? Or maybe you are trying to figure out which one to buy. Well, tonight’s your night. The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host a telescope clinic at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory on Birmley Road, south of Traverse City starting at 8 p.m. Telescope experts from the society will help you set up your telescope and give you observing tips. So bring ’em if you’ve got ’em. If it’s clear, at 9 p.m., there will be a star party to try out your telescope, or try them out on the lights of Traverse City. Can’t make it? We can help you after any meeting.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
Remember the Quadrantid meteor shower tomorrow evening and into Sunday morning:
The moon will interfere with the meteor shower, so only the brightest will be visible. The radiant will rise from the northeast. The radiant will be nearly overhead at the start of twilight. On a dark night up to 120 meteors per hour may be seen according to the International Meteor Organization.
01/01/2015 – Ephemeris – Happy New Year – a look at January
Ephemeris for New Years Day, Thursday, January 1st. The sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:43 tomorrow morning.
Happy New Year. Let’s preview the month of January. We’re a day from the latest sunrise at about the same time as today, 8:20 a.m. and will back down to 8:02 by the 31st. Sunset times are currently increasing by a minute a day from 5:12 p.m. today to 5:49 at month’s end. Listeners near the shore of Lake Michigan will have about the same sunrise time in Ludington, Interlochen/Traverse City, Petoskey and Mackinaw City, but the sunset times will vary markedly. The Quadrantid meteor shower whose radiant is near the end of the Big Dipper’s handle will reach peak on the 3rd, but it will have interference from the full moon,. On the 4th the Earth will be its closest to the sun of the entire year.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
Monthly Star Chart
Star Chart for January 2015. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. That is chart time.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:58 p.m. on January 1st, and increasing to 7:30 p.m. on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:34 a.m. on January 1st, and decreasing to 6:22 a.m. on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
The green pointer from the Big Dipper is the pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper that point to Polaris the North Star.
The Quadrantid meteor shower
The moon will interfere with the meteor shower, so only the brightest will be visible. The radiant will rise from the northeast. The radiant will be nearly overhead at the start of twilight. On a dark night up to 120 meteors per hour may be seen according to the International Meteor Organization.
Quadrantid meteor shower radiant at 1:30 a.m.
The Earth at Perihelion
This is the closest the Earth gets to the Sun in its orbit this year. The Sun will be 91,402,000 miles or 147,096,000 kilometers away at around 1 a.m. January 4th, 2015 EST or 6 hr UT January 5th 2015. It makes winter the shortest season because the Earth is moving its fastest during perihelion. It’s only by a few days. And in northern Michigan where it seems that winter overlaps half of fall and spring besides, that few days difference is buried under snow.
Quasi-conjunction between Venus and Mercury on the evening of January 10th.
A quasi-conjunction. Conjunctions occur when two solar system bodies have the same right ascension. Mercury will get to within 0.6 degrees of Venus before retreating back sun-ward.
Animation of the Quasi-conjunction of Venus and Mercury. Time span 1/05/2015 to 1/15/2015 at 7 p.m. Created by Bob Moler using Stellarium and GIMP.
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)
Here is a finder chart for 9 p.m. for January. Every other position is marked with the month-day and predicted magnitude. Recently the comet has shown to be brighter than predicted by up to one magnitude. Note that magnitudes in astronomy are like golf scores – the lower the number, the brighter the object. So the comet should reach 4th magnitude.
Nightly plot of Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) for the month of January, 2015 at 9 p.m.
Created using Cartes du Ceil (Sky Charts).
01/03/2014 – Ephemeris – Astronomy events in the Grand Traverse Region tonight.
Ephemeris for Friday, January 3rd. The sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:14. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 8:32 this evening.
We have a big night ahead. At 1 a.m. the Earth will be closest to the Sun at perihelion. In the morning hours the Quadrantid meteor shower will reach peak. Before that the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold its monthly meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers observatory on Birmley Road south of Traverse City starting at 8 p.m. The program will be given by Richard Kuschell, who will talk about “Aristotle’s Big Mistake”. Afterward, starting at 9 p.m. there will be a star party. If its clear the winter wonders will be visible including the planet Jupiter and the Great Orion Nebula, the closest star nursery to us. The meeting is free to the public. There will be another program given during the star party.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Quadrantid meteor shower radiant at 1:30 a.m.
Great Orion Nebula in Orion’s sword. My old photograph. What you’ll see will actually be better than this except our eyes will not perceive the red color. It will look gray or greenish at best.
01/02/2014 – Ephemeris – Quadrantids and the Earth at Perihelion tomorrow night
Ephemeris for Thursday, January 2nd. The sun will rise at 8:19, the latest sunrise of the year. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:14. The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 7:16 this evening. | The Quadrantid meteor shower will be the best meteor shower of the year since the other showers will have to contend with the bright moon. The best time to see them will be between midnight and 6:30 in the morning Friday night through Saturday morning. They will seem to come from behind the Big Dipper’s handle. Weird though it seems. At 1 a.m. Saturday morning the Earth will be closest to the sun in it’s orbit. This is called perihelion. The earth at that instant will be 91.45 million miles away. On July 3rd it will be at its farthest, about 94 and a half million miles away. This slight distance variance doesn’t affect us much except to make winter shorter than summer by a few days. You probably won’t believe that either.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Quadrantid meteor shower radiant low in the noirtheast at 1:30 a.m.
The Bad Astronomer’s take on perihelion is here.
Also for this and the rest of the year here is David Dickinson’s 101 Astronomical Events for 2014 on Universe Today.
01/03/2013 – Ephemeris – The Quadrantid meteor shower will peak this morning.
Ephemeris for Thursday, January 3rd. The sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:15. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:06 tomorrow morning.
This morning will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. There’s still time to spot them before the sky brightens too much. It’s one of the better meteor showers of the year, except it occurs in the cold and not very clear skies of January. Meteor showers are generally named for the constellation from which they seem to come. Trouble is, there’s no such constellation of the Quadrant. Now, that is. There is a sextant and an octant, but no quadrant. All these instruments were used by navigators and astronomers to measure the altitude of stars and planets. The obsolete constellation of the quadrant was located near the handle of the Big Dipper and north of the kite shaped spring constellation of Boötes. The Quadrantids will be around for the next few mornings.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Quadrantid meteor shower radiant at 1:30 a.m.
01/03/2012 – Ephemeris – The Quadrantid meteor shower tomorrow morning
January 3rd. The sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:14. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:04 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning will see the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. They will be best seen after 4 a.m. and before twilight starts at 6:34. The radiant will appear high in the sky then near the handle of the Big Dipper. The meteors or shooting stars will appear to come from there but will appear all over the sky. The shower is named for the constellation that they appear to come from, unfortunately the constellation didn’t survive. It was supposed to represent a mural quadrant, and old astronomical measuring tool that was built into a north-south wall to measure the altitude of stars as the crosses due south before the advent of the telescope. The Quadrantids can be a spectacular shower and viewing can be endangered by cold feet and hands.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
Addendum
All sky Quadrantid radiant finder chart for 4 a.m.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 