With many personal New Year’s Eve celebrations and fireworks displays either scaled back or canceled altogether this week, fans of Flashy events taking place in the night sky may have been disappointed. But all is not lost. In fact, nature has its own light display that we can enjoy as we enter 2021. It comes in the form of the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, which culminates tonight. Here’s how you can tell.
What are the quadrantides?
Technically, the Quadrantids meteor shower started last year – December 28, 2020, to be precise – but they are reaching their peak tonight. And what’s so special about these meteors? Besides being the first of the year, they are also among the best, according to NASA, thanks to rapid entry (at a rate of 60 to 200 meteors per hours), and because they are bright fireballs that often come with colorful traces.
How to See the Quadrantids at Their Peak
As with most astronomical events, it takes some planning to see the Quadrantids at their peak. Although many meteor showers one top that takes a day or two, it’s over in a few hours – so it’s important to get your timing right.
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There is also the challenge of the waning moon, which will be 84% full tonight, making it harder to spot the less prominent meteors. (Although the fact that the Quadrantids contain bright fireballs means that some should be visible even with the bright moon.)
There is no set timetable for tonight’s peak, although experts estimate it likely will between 2 a.m. and sunrise on the early morning of January 3. The Quadrantids will be most visible in the Northern Hemisphere, especially from the western United States. For more information on the Quadrantids – including what’s going on with them this year and how they will be affected by tonight’s weather –EarthSky has you covered.