The first meteor shower of 2024 is peaking tonight — and it could be one of the year’s best.
The Quadrantid meteor shower occurs each year during early January and, according to NASA, is known for its bright fireball meteors — large blasts of light and color that last longer than average meteor streaks.
The Quadrantid shower has a slimmer viewing window than other meteor showers that tend to remain at their peak for about two days. The Quadrantid peak lasts just a few hours — but as many as 120 Quadrantid meteors can be seen per hour under ideal conditions.
Here’s what to know about meteor showers, and how to enjoy this one.
What is the Quadrantid meteor shower?
The Quadrantid meteor shower began Dec. 26 and is expected to be active until Jan. 16, though the event will peak Wednesday night and into the early hours of Thursday — making that the best time to catch a glimpse of the show.
Britain’s Royal Greenwich Observatory predicts that the shower will bring bluish- or yellowish-white meteors with fine trains.
The space pebbles that spark the Quadrantids originate from Asteroid 2003 EH1, according to NASA. The asteroid takes 5.5 years to orbit the sun once.
The Quadrantid meteor shower has a thin stream of particles, making its peak shorter than other showers. The Earth crosses the stream at a perpendicular angle, which also shortens the peak of the spectacle.
The shower is named after Quadrans Muralis — an old constellation that is no longer recognized. But while meteor showers are named after constellations, the constellations are not the source of the meteors. According to NASA, “the constellation for which a meteor shower is named only serves to aid viewers in determining which shower they are viewing on a given night,” and is often linked to the direction the meteors appear to radiate from.
Where and how to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower
The International Meteor Organization says that those in the Southern Hemisphere are unlikely to catch this shower, while the best time to try to catch a glimpse of the shower in the Northern Hemisphere is from 2 a.m. until dawn local time. The American Meteor Society says the shower will peak for observers in North America between the local hours of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
The International Meteor Organization also noted that the moon, which is in its last quarter phase, may interfere with the shower.
“Unfortunately a half-illuminated moon will rise shortly after midnight this year and moonlight will tend to obscure the faintest meteors,” the organization said last month. “While moonlight will be a nuisance, it is not nearly as bad when a full moon is present.”
The organization recommend that sky gazers face northward away from the moon and use a tree or building to block out the moonlight.
Telescopes and binoculars are not needed to spot the Quadrantids. Meteors are known to streak across the open night sky, meaning using such tools could in fact limit your view.
“To view the Quadrantids, find an area well away from the city or streetlights,” NASA suggests, advising that those hoping to catch a glimpse of the event lie on their backs with their feet facing northeast, while gazing up at the sky.
Watchers are advised to give their eyes at least 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness and to wrap up warm, given January’s low temperatures.
“Serious observers should watch for at least an hour as numerous peaks and valleys of activity will occur,” the International Meteor Organization said.
What is a meteor shower?
Meteoroids are objects in space — and meteors are the flashes of light you see when the objects enter Earth’s outer atmosphere, burning up and producing light.
So meteor showers take place when Earth passes through a stream of space-borne debris during its annual orbit about the sun. The debris is usually left behind by a comet or asteroid.
Meteor showers take place at roughly the same time every year, because Earth passes through the same debris pocket in the same point in its orbit.