Many stargazers know the Geminid meteor shower of mid-December to be one of the best of the year.
Unfortunately, in 2024 it was washed out by the brilliant light of the nearly full moon.
We’ve got another chance this week.
Not for the Geminids, of course — they won’t return until next December — but for the Quadrantid meteor shower, which peaks on the morning of Friday, Jan. 3.
Never heard of it? I’m not surprised; few beginning stargazers have. By anyone’s definition, the Quadrantids is an unusual meteor shower.
First, there’s its name. A meteor shower is usually designated for the constellation from which its meteors appear to radiate.
But not the Quadrantids. Its name comes from an obsolete constellation of the 19th century — Quadrans Muralis — located just north of Boötes (pronounced bo-OH-teez).
You won’t have much luck finding it; the International Astronomical Union removed it in 1922 when the organization adopted our current list of 88 constellations.
Another odd fact about these meteors is that no one seems to know their origin.
Most meteor showers are caused by dusty particles boiled off passing comets, but we’ve yet to find any such comet that matches the orbits of the Quadrantid meteoroids.
So the puzzle remains.
Yet another unusual fact about this shower is that, while most others can be watched for days, this one lasts for only a few hours.
So with the Quadrantids, if you miss the few hours around its peak, you pretty much miss the entire thing.
The 2025 Quadrantids should provide a pretty good show to North American stargazers.
It will reach its official peak around 7 a.m. PST Jan. 3, so the best time to view it will be for an hour or two before dawn that morning.
Unlike last month’s Geminids, the moon will not appear in the pre-dawn sky.
So what can we expect from the Quadrantids? Astronomers predict an hourly rate of 100-120 meteors might be possible for viewers away from city lights, and that’s every bit as good as a moonless Geminid shower.
The Quadrantids appear to radiate from a point just north of Boötes, high in the eastern sky after midnight.
Boötes, the herdsman, looks more like a kite with the bright yellowish-orange star Arcturus marking its tail. One can also imagine that it’s shaped like an arrow that, conveniently, aims toward the shower’s radiant.
That’s not where you want to look, however.
Remember, just like with every other meteor shower, you need to take in the entire sky with your eyes, and the best way to do that is to lie back on a sleeping bag or lawn chair. Dress warmly, though. It will be cold!
Meteors will appear around the sky, but you will know if they are true Quadrantids if you trace their paths backward and they converge near the radiant.
If they don’t, they are just “sporadic” meteors caused by the many random interplanetary dust particles striking the Earth’s atmosphere.
So if you’d like to begin the new year with an exciting cosmic fireworks show, bundle up, head out to a dark sky location and enjoy!
