Missed the New Year’s fireworks display? Not to worry, tonight you can witness space's own sparkles, the Quadrantid meteor shower (aka Quadrantids). Producing up to 110 meteors per hour, there's also the chance you'll see several fireballs shoot across the night sky.
The Quadrantids are short-lived, so you’ll have to be quick, as the peak is sharp – and only lasts for a couple of hours. You’ll need to know exactly when to look for this dazzling display to kick-start the new year.
Fancy a new hobby to start 2024? Now is a great time of year to indulge in a little lunar photography, and shots of the Moon – if done right – look great on your feed. Astrophotographer Pete Lawrence has written this handy guide on how to take great pictures of the Moon, which is packed full of expert tips and tricks to help you on your way, whether you’ve got a smartphone, DSLR or dedicated high-speed astrophotography camera.
When is the Quadrantids meteor shower in 2024?
The Quadrantids meteor shower peaks tonight, 3-4 January 2024, just after midnight in the UK and US. The shower began on 28 December 2023 and continues until 12 January 2024.
"In the early hours of the morning of the 4 January, the Earth passes through a thin stream of dust in a meteor shower called the Quadrantids," says Dr Darren Baskill, an astrophotographer and astronomy lecturer at the University of Sussex.
"It is not known for sure which comet is the source of this brief shower, which only lasts for a few hours. But during this time, faint meteors will be seen as often as every minute during the peak, under clear, dark skies, well away from the light pollution of our towns and cities."
When is the best time to see the Quadrantids?
Unlike other meteor showers that have a broad maximum and a more sustained peak, the Quadrantids have a very short peak that only lasts a few hours.
The best night to set up watch for the Quadrantids is between the last hours of 3 January and before dawn on 4 January.
This short, sharp peak (estimates vary, but no more than six hours) is the result of a debris stream that is narrower than the ones produced by other parent bodies. It’s also more concentrated, which is why we get a brief, but intense, meteor shower peak.
Rather excitingly, this stream also contains relatively large meteoroids, so we have the tantalising possibility of seeing fireballs.
Where to look in the sky for the Quadrantids meteor shower
The Quadrantids will appear to originate from the constellation Boötes, near the Plough asterism which makes up part of Ursa Major. It’s in roughly the same patch of sky as the radiant for the Ursids that were active around Christmas.
This point in the sky – where the meteors appear to emanate from – is called the ‘radiant’.
To find the radiant for the Quadrantids, locate the Plough and extend an imaginary line from the end of the ‘handle’, and follow this arc until you come to the red giant, Arcturus. To help you remember, here’s a useful limerick: follow the arc to Arcturus.
Arcturus appears as an orange star, and is the brightest star in Boötes. It’s also the fourth brightest star in the night sky.
From Arcturus, look towards the northern part of the sky, and the radiant is in the northern part of the Boötes constellation, just before you hit Draco.
Although the meteors will appear to originate from this location, they will appear over the whole sky. And with the radiant moving to be more overhead as we approach dawn, we have the added benefit that meteors can appear in all directions, (as well as minimising the effects of atmospheric disturbance) maximising our chances of spotting shooting stars.
How many meteors will we be able to see from the Quadrantids?
The Quadrantids are among the three most active meteor showers of the year (the other two being the Geminids in December and the Perseids in August), and we expect to see around 110-120 meteors per hour at the peak.
The Quadrantids famously only offer a short window for the peak, so it can be easily missed if conditions are not the best.
This nominal rate, the zenithal hourly rate (ZHR), also assumes ‘perfect’ conditions: dark skies with a radiant that is high in the sky.
Realistically for 2024, numbers are likely to fall short of this 110-120 meteors per hour estimate, and will depend on the altitude of the radiant above the horizon, the amount of sky you’re able to take into your vision and the limiting magnitude. If we see one meteor every few minutes, we’ll be doing alright (although they’re rarely that predictable!).
If we're offered a break in the clouds, there's still a last-quarter Moon (at roughly 50 per cent illumination) to contend with, which rather unhelpfully, rises at the same time we can expect to see the peak starting.
These meteors travel at a velocity of around 41km per second (25.5 miles per second), making them moderately fast.
There’s also the exciting possibility of fireballs, thanks to the inclusion of larger meteoroid fragments in the debris stream.
Viewing tips
You don’t need any equipment to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower, although a tally counter can be useful to keep track of the meteors you see - especially if we're treated to a bumper year.
If the sky is clear overnight on 3-4 January, it's time to fish out that reclining chair from the summer. It's the ideal way to watch meteor showers, and it's a good idea to sit in the darkness for 10-20 minutes to allow your eyes to adjust. This will help build up your accumulated night vision, allowing you to better see faint meteor trails.
Try to avoid looking at bright sources of light during this time, including your phone. If you do need to check something, because the rod cells in our eyes are not sensitive to red light, it’s advisable to use a red filter or red-light torch.
Why are they called Quadrantids?
Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which they appear to radiate. Most of the time this is fairly obvious; the Geminids radiate from Gemini, the Perseids radiate from Perseus, the Leonids from Leo, and so on.
But you’d be forgiven for being puzzled by the name of the Quadrantids. They radiate from the constellation Boötes, so why aren’t they called the Boötieds?
The Quadrantids were first seen in 1825, and the name is derived from the (now obsolete) constellation Quadrans Muralis, represented as a wall-mounted quadrant, a type of astronomical instrument used for measuring angles in the sky.
Then in 1930, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially defined and established the 88 modern constellations, which did not include Quadrans Muralis. As a result, the constellation became extinct, and its stars were absorbed into the neighbouring constellations.
But the Quadrantids meteor shower retained its name, and its radiant is now associated with the modern constellation Boötes.
What causes the Quadrantids meteor shower?
Most meteor showers originate from comets, but the Quadrantids are different. The parent body of the Quadrantids was identified only relatively recently, in 2003, to be the asteroid 2003 EH1. Before then, we were only able to hypothesise as to what the parent body was.
As the Earth's orbit intersects with the stream of debris left behind by 2003 EH1, small particulates hit our atmosphere and burn up. This produces streaks of light that we see as shooting stars.
Asteroid 2003 EH1 has a diameter of around 3km (2 miles) across, and takes around 5.52 years to orbit the Sun. It's possible that it is a dead comet, one that has previously shed its volatiles (carbon dioxide, frozen water etc), or intermittently active.
Due to its proximity to Earth, NASA has classified 2003 EH1 as a ‘Near-Earth Asteroid’, although there’s no need to worry; computer simulations don’t indicate a collision course.
About our expert, Dr Darren Baskill
Dr Darren Baskill is an outreach officer and lecturer in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Sussex. He previously lectured at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, where he also initiated the annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.
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