Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2022 January 8
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                          Quadrantids of the North
                  Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Cheng Luo

   Explanation: Named for a [5]forgotten constellation, the Quadrantid
   Meteor Shower puts on an annual show for planet Earth's northern
   hemisphere skygazers. The shower's [6]radiant on the sky lies within
   the old, astronomically obsolete constellation [7]Quadrans Muralis.
   That location is not far from the Big Dipper, at the boundaries of the
   modern constellations Bootes and Draco. In fact north star Polaris is
   just below center in this frame and the Big Dipper asterism (known to
   some as [8]the Plough) is above it, with the meteor shower radiant to
   the right. Pointing back toward the radiant, Quadrantid meteors streak
   through the night in the panoramic skyscape, a composite of images
   taken in the hours around the shower's peak on January 4, 2022. Arrayed
   in the foreground are radio telescopes of the [9]Chinese Spectral
   Radioheliograph, Mingantu Observing Station, Inner Mongolia, China. A
   likely source of the dust stream that produces Quadrantid meteors was
   identified [10]in 2003 as an asteroid.

        Status Updates: [11]Deploying the James Webb Space Telescope
                   Tomorrow's picture: shrinking red spot
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
              [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2201/QuadrantidsnorthernskyRadioTelescopeArray.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. mailto: star - wolf - fire [at] 163 [dot] com
   5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_constellations
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070812.html
   7. http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/quadrans.htm
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190815.html
   9. http://english.nao.cas.cn/research/stations/202103/t20210321_265692.html
  10. http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/leonidnews47.html
  11. https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220107.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220108
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220109.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/