Quadrantids meteor shower 2017: Watch the first shower of the new year LIVE online
THE Quadrantids meteor shower is the first – and one of the best – celestial displays of the year, and here is how YOU can stream it live online.
The Quadrantids meteor shower is one of the best showers of the year
What is the Quadrantids meteor shower
The Quadrantids is an elusive and impressive shower that peaks for just a few hours each year at the start of January.
In theory, the shower can deliver at least one meteor per minute, and under perfect conditions stargazers could see a staggering 120 meteors in an hour travelling at around 45km per second.
The Quadrantids appear to radiate from a point in the Boötes constellation between the head of Draco and the end of the Big Dipper's handle.
The shower originates from the Boötes constellation
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Unusually, the shower’s source is a rocky asteroid named 2003 EH1 rather than an icy comet.
The celestial body remains a mysterious object, with some speculating that it could be a fragment of the comet C/1490 Y1 which was observed by astronomers 500 years ago and followed a similar orbit.
The shower is capable of producing up to 120 meteors per hour
When and what time is the Quadrantids meteor shower?
The shower is only visible for a short period of time when darkness falls in Asia and the Pacific islands, approximately between 1.30pm and 4.30pm GMT on January 3, 2017.
WATCH the Quadrantids meteor shower live online HERE
Space website Slooh will host a special three-hour livestream of the shower from Japan.
You can go to Slooh.com to join and watch this live broadcast, snap and share your own photos during the event, chat with audience members and interact with the hosts, and personally control Slooh’s telescopes.