Dark skies to host Quadrantid meteor shower

The first major meteor shower of 2020, the Quadrantids, will flash across dark, moonless skies during the predawn hours on Saturday morning. The Quadrantids arrive each year during the first week of January. They often put on a great show, featuring up to 100 meteors per hour during the shower's peak, but last year in North America, the timing wasn't quite right. "The reason the peak is so short is due to the shower's thin stream of particles and the fact that the Earth crosses the stream at a perpendicular angle," according to NASA. Last year, viewers in Asia and Europe saw plenty of action, but the curvature of the Earth blocked much of the view for sky-watchers in North America. This year's timing is much better. And a bonus, the skies will be moon-free. The Quadrantids are caused by the trail of debris left by 2003 EH1, an object astronomers think is a rock-comet -- almost an asteroid, not quite a comet. As Earth's orbit passes through the debris, the bits of rock and ice collide with the atmosphere and burn up, creating bright streaks in the night sky. The meteor showers are unique in that they are named for a constellation, "Quadrans Muralis," that isn't officially recognized. In 1795, the French astronomer Jerome Lalande named a group of stars for their likeness to a quadrant, the instrument used to pinpoint the location of stars. But in 1922, when the International Astronomical Union compiled an official list of constellations, they ignored Quadrans Muralis.

"An alternative name for the Quadrantids is the Bootids since the meteors appear to radiate from the modern constellation of Bootes," according to NASA. "Even though, the constellation may no longer be recognized, it was considered a constellation long enough to give the meteor shower its name."