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The first and one of the most prolific meteor showers of 2025 will top out tonight , fetch super - bright fireball and even shooting headliner .
The Quadrantid meteor shower is not peculiarly well known , running from Dec. 26 , 2024 , through Jan. 16 , 2025 , according to theAmerican Meteor Society . That ’s largely because they occur for northerly Hemisphere observers during a time of cold and often nebulose atmospheric condition .
However , if the skies are decipherable , about 25 shooting star — some of them specially bright powerhouse that can momentarily light up the sky — may be see during the peak , which will happen overnight on Thursday , Jan. 2 , through Friday , Jan. 3 , 2025 . The eyeshade is predicted for 12:45 p.m. on Jan. 3 , intend the best metre to observe the showers is a couple of hours before sunrise on Jan. 3 , though those farthest Cicily Isabel Fairfield will likely see the most meteoroid .
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The Quadrantids occur thanks to the asteroid 2003 EH1 , which orbit the sun every 5.5 years . From late December to mid - January , Earth moves through the streams of dust and debris it has left in thesolar systemover many decades . Between Jan. 3 and Jan. 4 , it moves through the densest part of that current , stimulate a peak in meteor rates .
Where to see the Quadrantid meteor shower
Astronomical condition are gross all night , with a crescent moon plant briefly after sundown on Jan. 2 , meaning the dark sky will be as dark as it ever grow . It ’s important before a shooting star shower to avoid calorie-free defilement to intimately observe the light show , though probable cold condition make that challenging .
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Those in the Northern Hemisphere will have the best chance to see the Quadrantids because of their reservoir constellation . Shooting stars result from dust and junk striking Earth ’s standard pressure . For the Quadrantid , that happen in front of the stars of Quadrans Muralis , a configuration that is no longer formally in use . Its shape resembles a quarter-circle — an instrument used to quantify the height of stars above the sensible horizon — and can be obtain tight to Ursa Major , home to the Big Dipper asterism , in the northerly sky as see from the Northern Hemisphere .
The Quadrantids are also notable because there is no major meteor shower bath after them until April ’s Lyrids and May ’s Eta Aquariids .
