2023 begins with a meteor shower: it’s the Quadrantids and the peak occurs early this Wednesday, January 4, around 4:00 am.
Together with the Perseids, which take place in August, or the Geminates, in December, these “are one of the most intense rains of the year,” he tells the TSF Ricardo Reis, from the scientific communication group of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences. However, it is known that the Quadrantids do not produce “big trail” meteors, but “frequent fireballs”.
The visibility of the phenomenon depends on the weather, which, contrary to what is usual at this time, this year seems to be in favour. However, the phase of the Moon can be an obstacle. “Despite good weather, the fuller the moon is, the brighter the sky will be. In principle, it will cut the number of meteors per hour by half or a quarter, even then it will be worth it for the fireballs.”
Instead of the usual 120 meteors per hour in a dark sky, the Moon will reduce the number of meteors to about 60. “But since these showers have fireballs, which are much brighter meteors, but with less trail, you can see them even with the moon almost full.
The particularity of the Quadrantids resides in “the place in the sky where they come from”. “This is an old constellation, which no longer exists, because, at this moment, the place where all the meteors seem to emanate from is in the Boieiro constellation, but even so, we kept the name Quadrantidas,” he said. maintains
“The Boieiro constellation rises around 11:30 p.m., from the 3rd to the 4th, almost at midnight, and this constellation is visible below the tail of the Big Dipper, to the northeast. This is the vanishing point of all the meteors. If we could track the direction all meteors are coming from, they would appear to be coming from that point in the sky.”
Ricardo Reis explains that “what happens is that the Earth is going through the debris field that a star has left throughout its orbit.” “In this case, the object is 2003 EH1, which is assumed to be the nucleus of a dead comet and hence the fact that it produces many larger fireballs.”
To observe this phenomenon, already this morning, Ricardo Reis recommends trying to “catch as much sky as possible.” “The ideal is to be lying on the ground facing up and, if possible, in a place where you can block the direct light of the moon.”
“Preferably”, outside the big cities, but even in these places “it will be possible to see some”. “Never 60 an hour. As a rule, be careful, light pollution only allows us to see between 10 and 20 percent of the meteors that would be seen in a dark sky, ”he says.
“Anyway, for anyone looking at the sky, it’s worth it, because fireballs are always a very interesting sight,” he adds.
Source: TSF
