The `faint` Quadrantid meteor shower peaks next Friday

Arab Weather - Dr. Ammar Al-Sakaji, head of the Jordanian Astronomical Society, said that now we have an appointment with the faint Quadrantid meteor showers that will adorn the sky from December 28 to January 12, and the peak rate of meteors will be at the radiation center at 7 pm next Friday, January 3, 2024. According to Jordan's geographical location, the radiation center will be below the horizon at this time, so you must wait for the radiation center to rise on the same day, Friday, at 11:54 pm, as the radiation center begins to rise in the sky towards the northeast, and the best times to observe these meteor showers in Jordan are from midnight to the pre-dawn periods of Friday/Saturday towards the northeast, north of the constellation Boar and not far from the Big Dipper.

The shower is expected to produce about 120 meteors per hour under standard astronomical conditions, which will not exceed 80 meteors per hour at the peak of the meteor shower, according to the annual report of the World Meteor Organization 2025. However, there is a large variation in the number of meteors (ranging from 60 to 200 meteors) and the peak will be near the crescent moon, which will set at 6:26 p.m. on Friday, before the radiation center reaches its maximum value, which increases the chance of seeing meteors.

It is noted that the peak rate of the Quadrantids meteor shower is high in number, such as the Perseid or Geminid meteor showers, but the possibilities of observing and seeing these meteors are less due to the narrow time frame of the peak, which may reach a few hours, in addition to the fact that they are "faint" meteors, as their magnitude reaches from 3 to 6.

Quadrantids meteor shower

The name "Quadrantids" comes from an old German star chart, reproduced from the 1799 edition of Christoph W. Goldbach's Neuster Himmels Atlas. It was removed in the 1920s when the International Astronomical Union adopted the modern list of 88 officially recognized constellations, which was originally attributed to the Quadrant Murales, a constellation created by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1795 and including parts of Bootes, Draco, and the Shepherd.

The Quadrantids meteor shower occurs when the Earth's orbit is engulfed by debris from a meteorite or asteroid "2023EH1" which takes 5-6 years to orbit the Sun, in addition to comet C/1490Y1. When dust and dirt particles enter at high speeds of approximately 150 thousand kilometers per hour, the debris from the asteroid and comet interacts with the Earth's atmosphere and works to ionize the atoms and compounds of the atmosphere, which appears in the form of a meteor. This occurs at high altitudes between 70 to 100 km in the upper atmosphere, and there is no harm or danger from that because it burns and turns into ash at high altitudes.

In general, observing meteors requires patience and a good examination of the sky, not only by looking at the radiation center but in all directions, in addition to the presence of the ideal astronomical criteria for observation, such as clear skies and the absence of clouds.

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