The first meteor shower to hit this new year will take place on Monday morning, January 4. The event will feature a strong demonstration of "shooting stars" for Europe and North America.
By Monday morning, individuals from all over North America who wish to witness the meteor shower may experience one of the best meteor showers of the year. The predicted hour of the shower will occur at 3 a.m. EST, according to the Canadian Observer's Handbook.
The Quadrantid meteor shower, with expected start time at about 3 a.m. EST, will light up mostly the north-eastern sky, which is believed to be a perfect timing since it falls right the prime meteor-watching hours. Take note, however, that the meteors will start to fall in number six hours before and after the main peak.
According to Space, the said meteors tend to radiate from a specific spot on the sky "midway between the last handle star of the Big Dipper and the head of Draco, the Dragon." The radiant, the article further stated, is "actually located within the boundaries of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, so we might expect them to be called the 'Boötids.'"
For those who would be observing the meteor shower under the mid-northern skies, it is believed that the radiant would stay near the northern horizon until midnight and would further "rise high in the northeast by dawn."
It is said that observers will be able to see 60 to 120 meteors per hour. It is advised to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark skies for about 15-20 minutes. Do this before you head for a serious meteor counting activity.
According to Guy Ottewell, editor of the 2016 edition of the Astronomical Calendar, "Faint Quadrantids caused by small particles may peak half a day earlier, and there may sometimes be a second peak some hours later, detected partly by radio observations."
