It is the first falling star shower of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. They are observed from January 1 to 6, with a maximum on day 3. The number of visible meteors can exceed 100 per hour, as reported by NASA. In 2013, the average speed of entry of meteors into the atmosphere was estimated to be about 41 km / s.
Everything indicates that the meteors have their origin in an ancient comet that was observed for the first time more than 500 years ago: the comet C / 1490 Y1 . Other researchers suggest that the Quadrantids may come from the asteroid 2003 EH1, which is possibly a fragment of an ancient comet fragmented into several pieces, or even an extinct comet, that is, that lost all the ice layer that surrounds the rocky core. .
The place where these shooting stars seem to come from is in the constellation Quadrans Muralis , discovered by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795 but currently not recognized by the scientific community.
