JPL Says Meteor Shower to Light Up First Week of Year

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says stargazers worldwide may be able to view one of the briefest but most spectacular meteor showers of the New Year.

In North America, particularly west of the Mississippi River, the Quadrantid meteor shower, can be visible in the morning hours of January 3 or 4, although the American Meteor Society says the prediction is not set in stone.

JPL says the Quadrantids are meteors that appear to radiate from the location of the former Quadrans Muralis constellation.

“Meteor showers are usually the residue that collects in the orbits of comets,” JPL’s Jane Houston Jones says in a podcast. “The Quadrantids are associated with an asteroid — 2003 EH1. It is thought to be the nucleus fragment from a comet break-up in the 1490s. It was classified as an asteroid when it was discovered by a near-Earth asteroid telescopic survey in 2003.”

Space.com times the peak of the Quadrantids, one of the most intense annual meteor displays, at about 6 a.m. PST on January 3 or 4.

“While the Quadrantids are a little-known meteor shower, 2017 will be a great year to catch them during their January 3-4 overnight peak,” Space.com says. “The nearly new moon’s dim light will provide favorable viewing conditions for the meteor shower, and average rates of 120 meteors per hour are expected.”

Later in the year, peaks of the Perseid or Geminid meteor showers persist for a day or more, allowing all time zones around the world to enjoy a good display of Perseids and Geminids.

But JPL says other heavenly bodies offer spectacular views as well especially this January.

“Venus shines at its brightest in many years. Through a telescope you’ll see the disk 56 percent lit on January 1st, half lit on the 14th, decreasing to 40 percent by month’s end.” Jones says. “Comet 45P is visible just after sunset at the beginning of the month very low in the southwestern sky, and will be visible just before sunrise by month’s end. Vesta, the brightest of all the asteroids, is visible all month long, reaching opposition and its peak of brightness on January 17th.”