Quadrantid Meteor Shower, One of the Year's Best, Is Peaking Now

The Quadrantid meteor shower appears to radiate out from the northeast corner of the constellation of Bootes, the herdsman, so you might expect this display to be called the "Bootids." But back in the late 18th century, there was a constellation in that location called Quadrans Muralis, the "Mural or Wall Quadrant" (an astronomical instrument). Adolphe Quetelet of Brussels Observatory discovered the Quadrantid meteor shower in the 1830s, and shortly afterward several astronomers in Europe and Am