By Wednesday, your last best chance to see any shooting stars or fireballs for a while will be over, so plan accordingly.
Astronauts on the International Space Station caught Quadrantids from orbit in 2020. NASA/Christina Koch© Provided by CNET
The first few months of the year have a relative dearth of meteor showers, so it’s worth trying to catch the Quadrantids during their very short peak just after New Year’s.
While December is packed with opportunities to catch abundant Geminid and Ursid meteors, the Quadrantid meteor shower is the sole major shower in the first quarter of the year, and it peaks quite briefly Tuesday night and Wednesday morning this week.
Like the Geminids and Ursids, the Quadrantids are often among the strongest showers of the year, but these meteors don’t get nearly as much hype as the northern summertime Perseids in August that hit during summer vacation time for many skywatchers. Also, the window of opportunity to see Quadrantids is very narrow, with a peak of intense activity that is just six hours long this year, according to the American Meteor Society.
Other showers may have peaks that last a day or two, with a lesser but still decent amount of activity stretching for days before and after the actual peak.