Article Posted on : - Dec 30, 2011

Quadrantid meteor shower 2011. A Jeff Berkes/NASA photo

WASHINGTON (BNS): Sky gazers could start off the new year with fantastic fireworks in the sky when the little-known 'Quadrantids' meteor shower peaks in the wee hours of January 4.

The meteor shower, named after an extinct constellation, will have a maximum rate of about 100 per hour, varying between 60 and 200, according to NASA.

The meteors will shoot up from when the waxing gibbous moon would be around in the Western sky at dawn. The meteor shower will peak at about 2 am EST (0700 GMT).

Like the Geminids, the Quadrantids originate from an asteroid, called 2003 EH1. Dynamical studies suggest that this body could very well be a piece of a comet which broke apart several centuries ago, and the meteors that would be seen on Jan 4 are the small debris from this fragmentation.

After hundreds of years orbiting the Sun, they will enter our atmosphere at 90,000 mph, burning up 50 miles above Earth's surface -- a fiery end to a long journey, NASA said.

The Quadrantids gets its name from the constellation of Quadrans Muralis (mural quadrant), which was created by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795.

Located between the constellations of Bootes and Draco, Quadrans represents an early astronomical instrument used to observe and plot stars.

Even though the constellation is no longer recognised by astronomers, it was around long enough to give the meteor shower -- first seen in 1825 -- its name.