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View larger image. | In 2014, as the Quadrantids flew, people in northern latitudes saw the Northern Lights. Photo by Tommy Eliassen.
The Quadrantid meteor shower is the first large meteor shower of 2021. Unfortunately, a bright waning gibbous moon will illuminate the sky on the peak night expected from late night on January 2 until dawn on January 3. , in terms of time. Peaks of 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. So you have to be on the correct part of the Earth – preferably with the radiation high in your sky – in order to experience the peak of the Quadrantids. In addition, the shower favors the northern hemisphere because its radiating point is so far north on the dome of the sky.
So you need a bit of luck to see the quadrantids, and being in the northern hemisphere helps. Who will see the 2021 shower? Keep in mind that the Quadrantid peak prediction is an educated guess, not an absolute guarantee. Quadrantids are capable of producing brilliant fireballs, so you might catch a few meteors despite the moonlight.
That said, in 2021, the International Meteor Organization peaks at January 3 at 2:30 p.m. UTC. If this peak prediction holds true, western North America has a good chance of seeing the shower at its best in the hours leading up to dawn on January 3.
Just know that meteor showers are notorious for defying the best-prepared forecasts. So for the quadrantids – as with any meteor shower – your best plan is simply to seek yourself out.
The 2021 lunar calendars have arrived! There are still a few left. Order yours before they go!
Eliot Herman wrote to EarthSky on January 1, 2019: “First meteor of the year… a first quadrantid… still a few days before the summit. Even got its color as it emerged from the radiant. Note the Big Dipper stars at the top of the image. “
Any location in the mid-north and far-north latitudes might be in a decent position to watch the quadrantids in 2021, but the bright moon is sure to interfere with this year’s show.
All things being equal, for any meteor shower, you are likely to see the most meteors when the radiation is high in the sky.
In the case of the Quadrantid shower, the radiating point is seen highest in the sky in the dark hours before dawn.
From the northern mid-latitudes, the radiating point of the Quadrantid Shower does not rise to the horizon until after midnight.
Where is the radiating point of the quadrantids?
The radiating point of the Quadrantid shower makes a rough right angle to the Big Dipper and the shining star Arcturus. If you retrace the trajectories of the quadrantid meteors backwards, they appear to radiate from this point on the starry sky.
Now for our usual caveat. You don’t need to find the radiant meteor shower to see the quadrantid meteors.
You just have to be in the northern or far northern latitudes in the wee hours of the morning and hope that the peak comes at the right time in your part of the world.
Meteors will radiate from the northern sky, but appear in all parts of the sky.
The now-defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis, for which the Quadrantids are named. 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. The same goes for the quadrantids. But the constellation of the Quadrantids no longer exists, except in memory. The name Quadrantids comes from the constellation Quadrans Muralis (Quadrant Mural), created by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1795. This now obsolete constellation was located between the constellations of Boötes the Shepherd and Draco the Dragon. Where did he go?
To understand the history of the name of the Quadrantides, we must go back to the first observations of this downpour. In early January 1825 Antonio Brucalassi in Italy reported that:
… The atmosphere was crossed by a multitude of luminous bodies known as shooting 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 suggested that the Quadrantids are an annual shower.
But in 1922, the International Astronomical Union (UAI) compiled a list of 88 modern constellations. The list was approved by the IAU at its first General Assembly held in Rome in May 1922. do not The cutout includes a constellation.
Today, that meteor shower retains the name of Quadrantids, for the original and now obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis.
The quadrantid radiant point is now considered to be at the northern tip of Boötes, near the asterism of the Big Dipper in our sky, not far from Boötes’s brightest star, Arcturus. It is far north on the Dome of the Sky, which is why southern hemisphere observers are unlikely to see many (if any) quadrantid meteors. Most meteors simply won’t pass above the horizon for southern hemisphere sky watchers. But some might!
In 2003, Peter Jenniskens proposed that this object, 2003 EH1, be the parent body of the Quadrantid meteor shower.
Quadrantid meteors have a mysterious parent object. In 2003, astronomer Peter Jenniskens tentatively identified the parent body of the Quadrantids as asteroid 2003 EH1. If indeed this body is the parent of the Quadrantids, then the Quadrantids, like the geminid meteors, originate from a rocky body – not from an icy comet. Strange.
However, 2003 EH1 could be the same object as comet C / 1490 Y1, which was observed by Chinese, Japanese and Korean astronomers 500 years ago.
The exact history of the parent object of the Quadrantids therefore remains somewhat of a mystery.
Bottom line: The first big meteor shower of 2021, and every year the Quadrantid meteor shower will likely be at its best in the hours between 2 a.m. and dawn on January 3. Unfortunately, in 2021, the waning and bright gibbous moon means no dark skies during the peak hours of this year’s annual Quadrantid meteor shower.
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