One of the ‘best meteor showers of the year’ will peak next week, as the Quadrantids send up to 110 shooting stars per hour streaking across the night sky.
The spectacular show is renowned for producing bright ‘fireball’ meteors which leave large explosions of light and colour that persist longer than average meteor streaks.
Unlike most meteor showers, which originate from debris left behind by comets, the Quadrantids come from asteroid 2003 EH1, first observed by Chinese astronomers more than 500 years ago.
Although it technically began yesterday, the Quadrantids is seen as the first meteor shower of each year.
One of the ‘best meteor showers of the year’ will peak next week, as the Quadrantids send up to 110 shooting stars per hour streaking across the night sky. They are pictured over the Great Khingan Mountains in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province in 2019
That is because it will be particularly intense on Tuesday (January 3) and officially peak at 03:00 GMT on Wednesday (January 4).
The total period of the shower is from December 28, 2022 to January 12, 2023.
The Quadrantids are best viewed during the night and predawn hours from the Northern Hemisphere, and the ideal way to see them is on a clear night.
The next few days should produce perfect viewing conditions across the UK, according to the Met Office, although patches of rain will impact the South East, Midlands and parts of Scotland and Wales on New Year’s Eve.
There are between six and ten ‘sporadic’ meteors per night throughout the year, but during a ‘meteor shower’ this increases dramatically.
‘During a shower, the Earth passes through a cloud of debris left behind by comets and asteroids, and so many more meteors are seen entering the atmosphere,’ the Royal Astronomical Society said.
It added: ‘Unlike many astronomical events, meteor showers are easy to watch and no special equipment is needed.
‘A meteor shower is best observed with the naked eye, and a reclining chair, a warm blanket and a hot drink make viewing much more comfortable on a cold January night.’
The easiest way to find the shower is to look north for the Big Dipper – the distinctive group of seven bright stars and a useful navigation tool.
Then follow the ‘arc’ of the Big Dipper’s handle across the sky to the red giant star Arcturus, which anchors the bottom of the constellation Bootes, where the meteor shower will appear.
‘For the best conditions, you want to find a safe location away from street lights and other sources of light pollution,’ the Royal Astronomical Society said.
‘The meteors can be seen in all parts of the sky, so it’s good to be in a wide open space where you can scan the night sky with your eyes.
‘In 2023, the maximum of the shower occurs just before the Full Moon, so moonlight will cause some interference.’
The shower’s name comes from Quadrans Muralis, which is a former constellation created in 1795 by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande that included portions of Boötes and Draco, but has since fallen out of use.
The easiest way to find the shower is to look north for the Big Dipper – the distinctive group of seven bright stars and a useful navigation tool
Unlike other meteor showers which have a two-day peak, the Quadrantids last just a few hours.
‘The reason the peak is so short is due to the shower’s thin stream of particles and the fact that the Earth crosses the stream at a perpendicular angle,’ NASA has said.
At an extreme, up to 200 shooting stars can be seen per hour, but that relies on perfect conditions in the ideal spot on Earth.
Meteors are the result of small particles entering the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, typically around 90,000 mph for the Quadrantids.
The pieces of debris heat up due to friction with the air, and are usually destroyed in under a second at altitudes above 50 miles.
The superheated air around the meteor glows briefly, and is visible from the ground as a streak of light known as a ‘shooting star’.
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