Looking to start the new year with a beautiful meteor shower? You’re a little lucky, as the night of January 3 and early morning of January 4 will offer a chance to catch a glimpse of the Quadrant meteor shower.
The brighter the moon is in the sky, the less detail you’ll see, and in that sense, this year will be good, but not great, for fans of limited meteor showers. By comparison, at the height of last year’s Quadrantid meteor shower, the Moon was nearly full — bad news for stargazers. Things look only slightly better in 2024, with the moon about half as bright.
When to Look Up to See the Quadrantid Meteor Shower
Alert amateur asteroid hunters keep an eye out for threatening space rocks
This meteor shower occurs every year from approximately January 1st to 5th, with some visible meteor activity every night during this window – but the night of January 3rd and early morning of January 4th will be your best time to see them. Good choice.The best time to see shooting stars is after midnight, or any time they appear radiant point, The Bootes are located in the night sky.
According to the American Meteor Society, peak times in North America are “between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. local,” but as always, check your local listings and remember that weather isn’t affected by stargazing. calendar.
Mix and match speed of light
What exactly is a “quadrant”?
If you took an astronomy class decades ago, you may have forgotten what a meteor is, and there’s no shame in that. Yes, they are the same thing as “shooting stars,” but the name is deceiving because meteors are just tiny particles of space dust that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. They are also not light-years away from our eyes like stars.Instead, there were dozens of them miles leave.
This particular piece of space dust is likely coming from a comet called 2003 EH1, which was discovered the year it was named.As Earth’s orbit carries us over and over again through the traces of cosmic remnants left behind by comets, dust grains—or meteoroid – Collisions with our atmosphere cause the light shows we call meteor showers.
How to Observe the Quadrant Meteor Shower
To see a dazzling show, you need to get away from the city lights. These meteors radiate from the constellation Boötes in the sky, and if you don’t know how to find it, a stargazing app may help. However, don’t focus on Botis, as shooting stars will appear to be everywhere above your head. Just lean back, stay warm, let your eyes adjust to the dark, and keep looking up.
Unless there’s cloud cover, given enough time you’ll see something exciting.
