Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

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.