How to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower as it peaks tonight
It seems the universe is looking out for the thousands of people in Birmingham who found out the city’s New Year fireworks were fake.
Because now the night sky is about to throw its own light show.
The Quadrantids, the first meteor shower of 2025, will see some 120 bright fireballs glide across the sky from dusk to dawn every hour.
What are meteor showers?
For one, these shooting stars aren’t actually stars.
They’re the rocky leftovers of an icy comet that fall into Earth’s atmosphere – when they do so, scientists call these debris meteors.
These dirty snowballs are constantly swinging around the Sun and, eventually, the Earth intersects with the rubble trailing them.
When this happens, however, the comet itself is long gone. It can take decades for the Earth’s orbit to align with the comet’s tail.
Most of the debris is no bigger than a grain of sand. But when the Earth reaches the densest part of this fallout, it’s called the peak.
What are the Quaratids?
The meteor shower is named after Quadrans Muralis, an ancient constellation that astronomers lump in with the constellation Boötes.
This annual cosmic fireworks display was first spotted in 1825. About 100 years later, astronomers clocked that it was coming from the small asteroid 2003 EH1. (Don’t worry, it’s not going to collide with the Earth anytime soon and wipe life out.)
When is the best time to see the Quadrantids meteor shower?
Active between December 27 and January 12, the Quadrantids peak around tonight and tomorrow morning and is best viewed in Europe.
Usually, the radiant – the point in the sky where all the blue meteors seem to shoot out from – is the constellation Boötes below the Big Dipper.
Usually, the best time to see a meteor shower is a clear sky, no moon or cloud cover and between midnight and sunrise.
The best time will be about 7pm tonight, according to the science website EarthSky, and the conditions to catch it are more than ideal – a dark sky with no pesky moon making things brighter.
The Meteor Shower Flux Monitoring website is a tool that says when meteor activity is expected (today, for example, it forecasts 130 meteors an hour). You can use this to know exactly when’s best to crane your neck.
How to watch a meteor shower
Planetary scientist and meteorite expert Dr Ashley King, of the Natural Museum in London, has a few tips.
You usually want to be as far away from a city centre as you can be to avoid light pollution, but the Quadrantids tend to be so dazzling they can be viewed slightly.
‘The darker the skies, the better your chances of seeing the really faint meteors as well,’ says Ashley.
‘You could go to the coast or stand on a hill in the middle of the countryside somewhere.’
If you’re worried about light pollution, you can use maps like this one to see where near you is darker.
You don’t need a telescope, binoculars or any fancy tech.
You can see meteor showers just fine with the naked eye – but stargazers should spend about 10 minutes or so outside first to let your eyes adjust to the dark.
‘Once you get used to the low light levels you’ll begin to notice more and more. So don’t give up too quickly,’ Ashley added.
A perk of forgoing observing equipment is that the meteors will zip across a large swathe of the sky, so you don’t want anything that could limit how much you can view.
When are the next meteor showers in 2025?
If you can’t catch the Quadrantids tonight, don’t worry.
While whether you can see them depends on where you live, the International Meteor Organization lists 12 more expected showers that will light up the skies this year.
The main celestial events for your calendar include the Lyrid meteor shower, which takes place from mid to late April.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks in mid-August from the constellation Perseus.
The Geminids, which occur every December, radiate from the constellation Gemini.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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