Prime viewing for Quadrantids meteor shower early Sunday
Jane Stevenson
Jan 01, 2021 • Last Updated 9 hours ago • 2 minute read
A meteor shower on a dark blue background. Photo by Getty Images /Stock photo
Twinkle, twinkle, not so little star — or, in this case, meteors.
The prime viewing time in the Northern Hemisphere for the Quadrantids meteor shower, which happens at the same time every year (Dec. 28-Jan. 12), is Saturday night into Sunday morning, says Toronto astronomer Chris Vaughan.
“It’s going to peak around 4 a.m. Toronto time on Jan. 3 and the best time to see these without the moon is before dawn,” said Vaughan, a public outreach and education specialist with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), Toronto Centre.
“Even though the showers re-occur every year predictably, whether or not they’re any good depends on the moon because the moon was full (Tuesday) night. And on the weekend, the moon’s still going to be 80% full and it’s going to be up in the morning sky along with the meteor shower, so it’s actually going to overwhelm a lot of the meteors. So only the brightest, brightest of the meteors will sort of punch through that bright moon.”
Typically, at their peak, you might see as many as 120 meteors per hour, but Vaughan warns the Quadrantids don’t last long.
“The Quadrantids we get through it in about six hours, so the shower is really short and intense and then it’s gone,” he said.
“The trick about meteors is we don’t care where in the sky they seem to originate from because they really are everywhere. So meteor showers you find an open sky, dark location, and just look up in any direction, it doesn’t matter. Turn off your phone. You can start looking as soon as it gets dark but you’ll get more meteors after midnight. They can be bright fireballs (because they’re the result of an asteroid as opposed to a comet), which make them nicer. So they may be bright enough even to see with the moon.”
In case you’re wondering why they’re called the Quadrantids, Vaughan explains: “Just below the Big Dipper’s handle there’s an empty patch of sky where there used to be a constellation and it was the Mural Quadrant (or Quadrans Muralis). So that constellation was only temporary. Somebody made it up because there was a comet running through that part of the sky and they wanted a constellation but we still use that as the meteor shower name.”
Happy star gazing everyone!
jstevenson@postmedia.com
torontosun.com
Jane Stevenson
Jan 01, 2021 • Last Updated 9 hours ago • 2 minute read
A meteor shower on a dark blue background. Photo by Getty Images /Stock photo
Twinkle, twinkle, not so little star — or, in this case, meteors.
The prime viewing time in the Northern Hemisphere for the Quadrantids meteor shower, which happens at the same time every year (Dec. 28-Jan. 12), is Saturday night into Sunday morning, says Toronto astronomer Chris Vaughan.
“It’s going to peak around 4 a.m. Toronto time on Jan. 3 and the best time to see these without the moon is before dawn,” said Vaughan, a public outreach and education specialist with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), Toronto Centre.
“Even though the showers re-occur every year predictably, whether or not they’re any good depends on the moon because the moon was full (Tuesday) night. And on the weekend, the moon’s still going to be 80% full and it’s going to be up in the morning sky along with the meteor shower, so it’s actually going to overwhelm a lot of the meteors. So only the brightest, brightest of the meteors will sort of punch through that bright moon.”
Typically, at their peak, you might see as many as 120 meteors per hour, but Vaughan warns the Quadrantids don’t last long.
“The Quadrantids we get through it in about six hours, so the shower is really short and intense and then it’s gone,” he said.
“The trick about meteors is we don’t care where in the sky they seem to originate from because they really are everywhere. So meteor showers you find an open sky, dark location, and just look up in any direction, it doesn’t matter. Turn off your phone. You can start looking as soon as it gets dark but you’ll get more meteors after midnight. They can be bright fireballs (because they’re the result of an asteroid as opposed to a comet), which make them nicer. So they may be bright enough even to see with the moon.”
In case you’re wondering why they’re called the Quadrantids, Vaughan explains: “Just below the Big Dipper’s handle there’s an empty patch of sky where there used to be a constellation and it was the Mural Quadrant (or Quadrans Muralis). So that constellation was only temporary. Somebody made it up because there was a comet running through that part of the sky and they wanted a constellation but we still use that as the meteor shower name.”
Happy star gazing everyone!
jstevenson@postmedia.com
Prime viewing for Quadrantids meteor shower early Sunday
Twinkle, twinkle, not so little star — or, in this case, meteors.
