View larger. | In 2014, when the Quadrantids flew, people in the northern latitudes saw auroras. Photo by Tommy Eliassen.
The quadrantid meteor shower is the first major meteor shower of 2021. Unfortunately, a bright, waning gibbous moon will illuminate the sky during the maximum night expected from late January 2 until the morning of January 3. gener. , depending on the weather. The peaks of the Perseid or Geminid meteor showers persist for a day or more, allowing all time zones around the world to enjoy a good display of Perseids or Geminids. But the peak of the Quadrantids only lasts a few hours. Therefore, you should be on the right side of the Earth, preferably with the radiant rise in the sky, in order to experience the peak of the Quadrantids. Also, the shower favors the northern hemisphere because it is radiant point it is so north to the dome of the sky.
So you need a little luck to see the Quadrantids and being in the northern hemisphere helps. Who will see the 2021 shower? Note that the Quadrantid peak prediction represents a formed conjecture, not an iron guarantee. Quadrantids are able to produce some bright fireballs, so you may catch a few meteors despite the moonlight.
That said, in 2021 the International Meteorological Organization gives the high point on January 3 at 14:30 UTC. If this peak prediction is met, western North America has a good chance to see the shower at the best time during the hours before January 3rd.
Just know that meteor showers are famous for challenging the best established forecasts. So for the Quadrantids, as for any meteor shower, your best plan is to simply look for yourself.
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Eliot Herman wrote to EarthSky on January 1, 2019: “First meteor of the year … a first Quadrant … still a couple of days to reach the top. It even got its color when came out of the radiant. Note the Big Dipper stars at the top of the image “.
Anywhere in the north-north and far-north latitudes could be in a decent position to see the Quadrantids in 2021, but the bright moon is sure to intrude on this year’s program.
All other things being equal, for any meteor shower, you are likely to see most meteors when the radiant is high in the sky.
In the case of Quadrantid rain, the radiant point is highest in the sky in the dark hours before dawn.
From mid-northern latitudes, the radiant point of Quadrantid rain does not rise over the horizon until after midnight.
Where is the Radiant Point of the Quadrantids?
The radiant point of the Quadrantid rain makes an approximate right angle with the Big Dipper and the bright star Arcturus. If you trace the paths of quadrant meteors backwards, they appear to radiate from this point in the starry sky.
Now for our usual warning. You don’t have to find the radiant meteor shower to see the Quadrantid meteors.
Just be at mid-north or north latitudes, until the wee hours of the morning, and wait for the peak to arrive at the right time in your part of the world.
Meteors will radiate from the northern sky, however they appear in all parts of heaven.
The now defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis, by which the Quadrantids are called. Image via Atlas Coelestis.
The Quadrantids are named after a constellation that no longer exists. Most meteor showers are named after the constellations from which they appear to radiate. So is the Quadrantids. But the constellation of the Quadrantids no longer exists, except for memory. The name Quadrantids comes from the constellation Quadrans Muralis (Quadrant mural), created by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795. This constellation, now obsolete, was between the constellations of Boötes the Herderman and Draco the Dragon. . Where did he go?
To understand the history of the name of the Quadrantids, we must return to the first observations of this rain. In early January 1825, Antonio Brucalassi in Italy reported that:
… the atmosphere was traversed by a multitude of luminous bodies known as fallen stars.
They seemed to radiate from Quadrans Muralis. In 1839, Adolphe Quetelet of the Brussels Observatory in Belgium and Edward C. Herrick in Connecticut independently made the suggestion that the Quadrantids are an annual rain.
But in 1922 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) devised a list of 88 modern constellations. The list was agreed by the IAU at its inaugural general assembly held in Rome in May 1922. It did so. no The cutout includes a constellation.
Today, this meteor shower retains the name Quadrantids, for the original and now obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis.
The radiant point of the Quadrantids is now considered to be at the northern end of Boötes, near the asterism of the Great Bear in our sky, not far from Boötes’ brightest star, Arcturus. It is located far north of the sky’s dome, so observers in the southern hemisphere probably won’t see many (if any) quadrant meteors. Most meteorites will simply not reach above the horizon for observers of the southern hemisphere sky. But some could!
In 2003, Peter Jenniskens proposed that this object, in 2003 EH1, be the parent body of the Quadrantid meteor shower.
Quadrantid meteors have a mysterious parent object. In 2003, astronomer Peter Jenniskens provisionally identified the Quadrantids’ parent body as the 2003 asteroid EH1. If indeed this body is the father of the Quadrantids, then the Quadrantids, like the Geminid meteors, come from a rocky body, not an icy comet. Strange.
In turn, however, the 2003 EH1 could be the same object as comet C / 1490 Y1, which was observed by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean astronomers 500 years ago.
Therefore, the exact story behind the parent object of the Quadrantids remains a bit mysterious.
Summary: The first major meteor shower in 2021 and, each year, the Quadrantid meteor shower will probably be at its best between 2 a.m. and the morning of January 3. during the peak hours of this year’s annual quadrant meteorite rain.
