If your New Year’sresolutionis to spend more metre appreciating the wonders ofspace , you wo n’t have to wait very long to put your plan into action : 2020 ’s first meteor shower is coming between January 3 and January 4 .
According toInverse , the Quadrantid meteor shower consists of fireball meteor , which shine brighter and bold than other meteor because they ’re made from larger particles of matter . And since the Sun Myung Moon wo n’t be seeable during the Quadrantids ’s peak , the already - shining meteors wo n’t have to compete with moonshine .
They will , however , have to vie with your habit of being good departed in the middle of the night . The International Meteor Organization predicts that the cascade ’s peak will occur around 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 4 , and only last for about four hours [ PDF ] . It will take station in the northern part of the sky , so your chances of seeing the shower are good if you live in the Northern Hemisphere .
The meteor cascade was named theQuadrantidsbecause its beaming point — or the location in the sky from which the meteors seem to develop — was in a now - obsolete configuration name the Quadrans Muralis , identified in 1795 by French astronomer Jérôme Lalande and then omitted from the International Astronomical Union ’s list of constellation in 1922 .
Luckily , there are a duo other recognisable landmarks , so to speak , to serve you figure out where to point your gaze come next Friday dark . According toEarthSky , the Quadrantids ’s updated refulgent tip is near Arcturus , the brightest star of the Bootes configuration , and it ’s also not far from theBig Dipper .
In 2003 , astronomer Peter Jenniskens suggested that the Quadrantids ’s parent soundbox was the asteroid 2003 EH1 , rather than an icy comet like many other meteor shower . Though we do n’t know if that ’s true , we are fairly sure about one thing : The hazard to ring in the new class with a fireball sighting is worth losing a little sleep over .
[ h / tInverse ]
