A little known meteor shower is taking place tonight in the Northern skies. The Quadrantids. The meteor shower seems to originate it what was once known as the constellation Quadrans Muralis discovered (or named) by Astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795. The International Astronomical Union no longer recognizes this constellation, the stars associated with it are located in other recognized constellations.
Jerome named the constellation Quadrans Muralis from which the meteor shower gets it's anachronistic name after an instrument invented by him to help him chart stars. Muralis in Latin means wall and Quadrans is the arc covered by 90 degrees of a circle.
The Qaudrantids occur every January in short, bright showers.
Tonight you will be able to see the meteor shower in the high Northern hemisphere, in Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Parts of the eastern and central United States may be able to catch a glimpse of the meteors between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning EST.