Stargazers can catch up to 120 shooting stars per hour during the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower this weekend.
The Quadrantid meteor shower is set to peak tonight, giving stargazers a chance to see up to 120 shooting stars per hour.While the Quadrantid meteor shower is active from 26 December to January 16, it will produce the most shooting stars this weekend.The best time to view them is from late night on 3 January to dawn on 4 January.
'While the peak only lasts a few hours, you can still see meteors before and after this period,' said Shyam Balaji, researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London.Unlike other meteor showers that tend to peak over about two days, the peak period of the Quadrantids is only a few hours long.This means the lunar disk is only about 47 per cent illuminated, and won't cast too much glare into the sky.For the best view, set up your watch-post somewhere away from light pollution - be that a city skyline or even just a lamppost. Be patient and let your eyes adjust to the dark – this can take up to 20 minutes if you want to catch the fine light trails that follow meteors. Watch dramatic moment giant 3,500mph METEOR explodes in blazing white hot fireball over Siberia turning night into dayYou won't need to bother with binoculars, as these will only limit the portion of the sky you can see. Although you can try and position your seat to face roughly 45 degrees away from the radiant – the place in the sky where the meteors originate from.To find Boötes, first look for the Big Dipper, also known as the Saucepan or Plough.Arcturus is the bottom point of the Boötes constellation, and can be seen as the lower tip of the kite or the ice cream cone.Meteors can turn all sorts of colours when they burn up, depending on what they're made up of. The chemical composition of a meteor can be the difference in it shining blue-green, orange-yellow, and even violet.If it burns an orange-yellow, it's composition features sodium
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