Stargazers will get a glimpse of the Quadrantid shower this weekend, which illuminates the skies with up to 200 shooting stars per hour.
The annual meteor shower runs every year between 28 December and 12 January, but in 2021 the best views in the UK will be after dark on 2 and 3 January.
The Quadrantids are known to emit between 50 and 200 meteors per hour on a clear night, and NASA describes them as one of the best annual meteor showers.
Meteors are pieces of rocky debris that enter the Earth’s atmosphere at up to 40 miles per second, leaving streaks of light we call ‘hunting stars’.
Quadrantids over in the Khingan Mountains in northeastern Heilongjiang province of China, January 4, 2019
Quadrantids in particular are famous for their bright ‘fireball’ meteors that emit large explosions of light and color that last longer than average meteor stripes.
This is because fireballs come from larger pieces of material, according to NASA.
Most meteor showers have a two-day peak, but the Quadrantids have a ‘peak’ window of just six hours.
‘The reason the peak is so short is due to the thin stream of the shower grains and the fact that the Earth crosses the stream at a right angle,’ NASA says.
It is better to look at quadrantids in the Northern Hemisphere because their radiant point – the point where a meteor appears to have originated – is as far north as the globe of the sky.
The easiest way to find the shower is to look north for the Big Dipper. Then follow the ‘arc’ of the Big Dipper’s hand across the sky to the big red star Arcturus – this will be anchored at the base of the constellation Boella, where the meteor shower appears
Meteor climbs past stars during the annual Quadrantid meteor shower in Qingdao, Shandong Province, January 4, 2014
According to the International Meteor Organization (IMO), the peak is expected to occur at around 14:30 GMT on Sunday, January 3rd.
But it is usually difficult to predict when it will peak.
‘That forecast is not set in stone,’ Robert Lunsford, a longtime meteor observer with the Meteor Association of America, previously told Space.com.
‘We haven’t let this one down yet. It works the way he wants. ‘
If the IMO estimate is correct, people in North America – especially on the west coast, and Pacific islands – will get the best view this year, because of the time frame.
This is because it is best to watch Quadrantids overnight and hours in advance.
However, people in Europe may still be able to catch a glimpse over the weekend, as long as the weather is clear.
Quadrantid meteor shower over in the Great Khingan Mountains in northeast Heilongjiang China
According to IMO estimates, the Quadrantids were able to provide Europeans with good views every Saturday night through Sunday morning and Sunday night through to Monday morning.
‘The enthusiastic viewer should focus on the nights on either side – January 2-3 (as the meteor shower picks up) or January 3-4 (as it decays),’ said Tania de Sales Marques, an astronaut at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
However, the gibbous Moon creeps up for most of the night, ‘making up a bright light source in the sky that makes it harder to see than meteors’, she said.
Quadrantids reward the sickest of stargazers, according to NASA.
‘To look at the Quadrantids, find a place far away from city or street lights,’ the space agency says.
‘Come prepared for winter weather with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair.
‘Lie flat on your back with your feet facing north-east and looking up, taking in as many of the skies as you can.
‘In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes change and you start to see meteors.
‘Be patient – the show lasts until morning, so you’ll have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.’
The easiest way to find the shower is to look north for the Big Dipper – the special group of seven bright stars and a handy navigation device.
Landscape of the Quadrantid meteor shower over in the Khingan Mountains, northeast of Heilongjiang Province in China, January 4, 2019
Then follow the ‘arc’ of the Big Dipper’s hand across the sky to the big red star Arcturus – this will be anchored at the base of the constellation Boella, where the showerhead will appear.
The Quadrantids get their name from the constellation Quadrans Muralis – a mural quadrant, invented by the French astronaut Jerome Lalande in 1795.
They come from a small asteroid, called a 2003 EH1, with a diameter of just about two miles (three kilometers) across.
2003 EH1 was detected on 6 March 2003 by a Near Earth Observatory at Lowell Observatory (LONEOS).
The asteroid will take an impressive 5.52 years to orbit the sun once.
Studies suggest that this body could very well be a piece of comet that broke apart several centuries ago.