Quadrantid, the first meteor shower of the year is unique: Why?
A brand-new meteor shower named Quadrantid is almost here to welcome the new year. One of the annual meteor showers, Quadrantid will peak at 2am IST on the morning of 6th January and will hit at an extent of 80 meteors per hour. NASA has estimated the velocity of this meteor shower at 41 kilometres per second. Here’s what is known so far about the first meteor shower of 2022.
What are Quadrantids?
Quadrantids are one of the brightest meteor showers that are active every year from 28th December to 12th January. They derive their name from the constellation ‘Quadrans Muralis’, popularly known in the scientist community as Mural Quadrant. It was discovered in the year 1825. When the meteor shower was first observed, it was thought to be radiating from this constellation. However, in the year 2003, meteorologist Dr. Peter Jenniskens from the Lowell Observatory first realised that it was not coming from the defunct constellation that lies near another significant constellation Bootes. Instead, it was caused by near earth asteroids called 2003 EH1 (asteroid number 196256). The findings were part of their Near-Earth Object Search Project. Quadrantids can strike at a velocity of up to 100 kilometres per second and are larger explosions of lights and colours that persist longer than other meteor showers.
In what ways are Quadrantids unique?
While most meteor showers originate from live comets, the source of Quadrantids are asteroids called 2003 EH1 that were in turn made out of dead or ‘rock’ comets. This particular asteroid takes 5.52 years to revolve around the sun and leaves behind several particles. When our home planet Earth passes through these particles during its own revolution, we experience the meteor showers. The debris left behind by the EH1 asteroid disintegrates over time, travels towards the earth’s atmosphere and collides with it, which is when we get to see the fiery streaks in the clear night sky. Moreover, while other meteor showers peak for almost two days at a stretch, Quadrantids peak lasts for only a few hours at the most, due to its thin stream of particles and because the earth crosses this stream at a perpendicular angle.
How to watch the meteor shower?
As per NASA, people in India need to face the north-eastern side of the sky and look out for fireballs coming out of it, at a magnitude brighter than minus 3. No special instrument is required to witness this annual shower as it can be seen with the naked eyes. The better alternative is to follow the YouTube channel or official website of NASA, as their Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 will run a live stream from 5:15 am IST on 6th January itself. This telescope will be capturing the Quadrantids from Italian capital city, Rome.