How to watch the Quadrantids, one of the strongest meteor showers of the year
The new year kicks off with the peak of the Quadrantids, one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, according to NASA.
But keep your eyes peeled because with a peak only lasting about six hours, as opposed to multiple days, the Quadrantids are also one of the quickest meteor showers to blaze across the night sky.
Meteors are leftover pieces from broken asteroids and comet particles that spread out in dusty trails orbiting the sun. Each year, Earth passes through the debris trails, and pieces of dust and rock create colorful, fiery displays called meteor showers as they disintegrate in our planet’s atmosphere.
The peak of the Quadrantids is so limited compared with most meteor showers because the shower only has a thin stream of particles and Earth passes through the densest concentration of those particles quickly at a perpendicular angle, according to NASA.
Viewing the Quadrantids
Maximum meteor activity is expected to peak between 10 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET (15 to 18 Coordinated Universal Time) on January 3, which favors Alaska, Hawaii and far eastern Asia, said Bob Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the American Meteor Society.
The best time to spot the meteor shower will be during the hours before dawn, according to EarthSky.
Sky-gazers on the east coast of North America may see up to 25 meteors streaking across the skies, while those on the west coast could see double that amount due to a later sunrise, Lunsford said. And эльдорадо промокод самовывоз if skies remain clear over western Alaska, viewers of the shower could witness an excess of 100 meteors per hour, he said.
The waxing crescent moon, only 11% full, will set well before midnight, allowing unhampered viewing of the meteor shower, Lunsford said.
