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Quadrantid meteor shower will peak Jan. 3, with up to 40 shooting stars per hour
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Dec 24, 2023
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NASA
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Dec 24, 2023
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At its peak in the evening between Jan. 3 and 4, the Quadrantid meteor shower will burst with up to 40 shooting stars per hour.
A waning gibbous moon that night might obscure some of the fainter fiery flares traveling through the Earth’s atmosphere at 25 miles per second. New York City stargazers can get a better view from darker areas such as rooftops or clearings with an expansive view of the night sky as far away from artificial lights as possible.
“Quadrantids can still be a good show,” said Bart Fried, vice president of operations at the Amateur Astronomers Association. “It's going to be cold, really cold, so dress appropriately and always plan that it's going to feel 10 degrees colder than you expect.”
The Quadrantids is one of four major annual meteor showers. Its shooting stars are bright fireballs with tail streaks longer than the average meteor. They are the remains of 2003 EH1, an asteroid first observed 20 years ago. The meteor shower first appears on Dec. 26, but it doesn’t become fully active until January. It ends on Jan. 16.
Some of the best views of the Quadrantids can be found outside of the city, in areas such as the Catskills or Bear Mountain. But stargazers in the five boroughs still have a good chance of seeing the show in dark, open areas like Great Kills in Staten Island and Inwood Hill Park on Manhattan's northern tip.
“It's really about having the largest swath of sky that's kind of dark in a city like New York,” said Jackie Faherty, astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.
January's other astrological highlights include Jupiter, which will appear in the sky right beside a waxing crescent moon on Jan. 18 and be bright enough to see with the naked eye.
Winter constellations will continue to shine brightly in the night sky all month long. Orion, Cassopeia, and Canis Minor and Major are among the visible star groupings. If it’s a clear night, Jan. 11 is a good night for observation because it will be a new moon, meaning that our lunar neighbor will be dim enough to darken the sky and make other celestial objects easier to see.
Near the bright “W” shape of Cassopeia is a fuzzy-looking cloud: the Andromeda Galaxy. With binoculars and telescopes, residents can see the dust lanes of Andromeda and its star-forming region.
“You'll see blues and reds more brilliantly if you're going to look at them through the telescope; you just get more detail,” Faherty said. “The reddish areas will be star-forming areas and that should look a little bit more brilliant to you when you look at them through a telescope.”
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new york city
astronomy
Rosemary Misdary
Rosemary is health & science reporter. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 646-544-9524.
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