2023 Quadruple meteor shower peaks in a burst of fire

The first months of each year have a relative paucity of meteor showers, so the quadruple objects during the first week often lure diehard stargazers outside. They delivered the show some sky-watchers had been hoping for on Tuesday night and Wednesday night.

While December is full of opportunities to catch abundant Geminid and Ursid meteors, the Quadruple meteor shower is the only major shower of the first quarter of the year, peaking briefly on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning this week.

Like the Gemini And the UrsidsThe Quadrantids are often among the most powerful showers of the year, but these meteors don’t get as much buzz as the northern summer Perseids in August that hit during many skywatchers’ summer vacation period. Also, the window of opportunity to see Quadrantids is pretty narrow, with intense peak activity being just six hours this year, according to American Meteorite Society.

Other showers may have peaks that last a day or two, with less but still activity extending into the days before and after the actual peak.

To catch Quadrantids, there are two factors to consider: what time the shower peaks in a given location and how high a quarter of the night sky the Quadrantid meteors appear to have originated from at that time.

Predicting the exact moment of the meteor shower’s peak activity provides no guarantees, but the target range for the best viewing times this year was between 3:40 AM and 6:40 AM UTC on January 4 (7:40 PM to 10:40 PM) PM EST. Pacific on Tuesday). However, the region of the sky from which the Quadrantid radiates outward is in the constellation Bootes, the Shepherd, and this radiance was highest in the sky between about 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time.

Where these two windows overlap in the Northern Hemisphere, you have the best spots on the planet to observe the Quadrants. This week seemed like nowhere in or near the North Atlantic.

Predictions called for about 25 Quadrantids per hour under ideal conditions, including lots of fast-shooting stars and a few fireballs. According to some predictions, a lucky quadrantid explosion producing up to 120 meteors per hour would also have been possible.

by Wednesday evening International Radio Meteorite Monitoring Project It’s already been reporting detections of up to 120 meteors per hour, though it’s unlikely anyone will be able to see every single one of them with the naked eye, thanks in large part to the Moon, which was 92% full last night.

What you actually see when a quadrupedal meteor streaks across the sky is an atom or piece of pebble asteroid 2003 EH1, which some astronomers believe may be an extinct comet or a new type of object sometimes called a “rocky comet”. Over the centuries, EH1 has left a trail of debris in its path and our planet passes through this stream of debris every January.

If you miss it, mark your calendar for the next major meteor shower, which unfortunately won’t happen until the Lyrids become active in late April.