Photo credit: AMS
Quadrantids will be the first meteor shower of 2019 year, and it peaks Thursday night. The best time to watch is from late night January 3 until dawn on January 4, as it’s been known to produce some 50-100 meteors in a dark sky. International Meteor Organization says the exact peak of the shower will be at 2:00 a.m. UTC, when sky-gazers in Europe get the best view. It’s expected to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere, especially mid-northern and far-northern latitudes, if weather conditions allow. Read more for another video about the meteor shower and additional information.
However, the Quadrantids meteor shower isn’t the only astronomical event taking place this month, since just a few days later, a partial solar eclipse will take place, while the closest approach of the full moon will coincide with a total lunar eclipse on January 21. Unfortunately, there won’t be another total lunar eclipse until May 2021.
” Unlike most meteor showers which originate from comets, the Quadrantids originate from an asteroid: asteroid 2003 EH1. Asteroid 2003 EH1 takes 5.52 years to orbit the sun once. It is possible that 2003 EH is a “dead comet” or a new kind of object being discussed by astronomers sometimes called a ‘rock comet,'” according to the American Meteor Society.
