January’s Quadrantids Kick Off New Year Shooting Star Show Lineup

Summary: January's Quadrantids greet the new year with an end-of-December start date, a peak on 2016's third or fourth day and an end date before mid-January.

part of nightlapse taken on January 3, 2016, with GoPro camera ~ Could be a Quadrantid meteor?: David, Bergin, Emmett and Elliott, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

With a start date around Dec. 28 and an end date around Jan. 12, the Quadrantids close one year, welcome the next year with peak meteor shower viewing around Jan. 3 or 4, and kick off the new year shooting star show lineup.

The International Meteor Organization predicts the peak for 2016’s Quadrantids as occurring from 0800 Coordinated Universal Time (3:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) into dawn Monday, Jan. 4. The Quadrantids’ peak rate, known as zenith hourly rate, range from 60 to 200 shooting stars per hour.

North America and the western Atlantic are expected to be favorable locations for peak viewing. The Quadrantids linger in the new year’s skies until around Jan. 12.

Other major showers making their annual appearances in the new year shooting star show lineup include Lyrids (April 16 to April 25), Eta Aquariids (April 19 to May 26), Delta Aquariids (July 21 to Aug. 23), Perseids (July 13 to Aug. 26), Orionids (Oct. 4 to Nov. 14), Southern Taurids (Sept. 7 to Nov. 19), Northern Taurids (Oct. 19 to Dec. 10), Leonids (Nov. 5 to Nov. 30), and Geminids (Dec. 4 to Dec. 16). Meteor activity occurs every night in the sky, either as part of a meteor shower or as sporadic meteors not associated with any known meteor streams.

Meteor showers vie with moon events, planetary performances and sun activities for filling skygazers’ 2016 calendars with enjoyable observation dates. Four of the five naked eye planets, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, kick off the new year with visible appearances for Earthlings. Mercury’s nearness to the sun renders it invisible for Earthlings. January’s planetary lineup includes Neptune and Uranus, viewable as tiny discs via telescopes or large binoculars.

A total solar eclipse is slated for March 9. An annular, or partial, solar eclipse, in which the sun rings the darkened moon, takes place on Sept. 1. Penumbral lunar eclipses, in which the Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra, darkly shades the lunar surface, are expected on March 23 and Sept. 16.

Although considered the year’s first major meteor shower, the Quadrantid meteor shower mainly rings in the new year for mid and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Southern Hemisphere skygazers at latitudes north of 51 degrees South may be able to glimpse the horizon-hugging meteor shower.

Meteor showers tend to be named for their radiant, the point in the sky from which the shooting stars appear to radiate. January’s Quadrantids are named for Quadrans Muralis (Mural Quadrant), located between the constellations of Bootes and Herdsman and Draco the Dragon. The constellation became extinct with its omission in the list of 88 modern constellations approved at the International Astronomical Union’s inaugural General Assembly in Rome, Italy, in May 1922.

The Quadrantids have a radiant point that forms a right angle with the Big Dipper asterism, or pattern of stars, and Arcturus, Bootes’ brightest star, located in the Herdsman’s northern tip. Bootes’ location in the extreme far north of the sky dome accounts for limited or poor visibility in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, Bootes climbs above the horizon after midnight, easing visibility of the constellation and of the Quadrantid meteor shower in the early morning hours.

In addition to shooting stars, such as the new year's Quadrantids, the yearly list of viewable sky objects includes a manmade object, the International Space Station. NASA's popular Spot the Station lists over 6,700 worldwide locations for sighting the fast-moving station that shines as the sky's third brightest object. Britain's first astronaut, Tim Peake, aboard the International Space Station since Dec. 15, 2015, tweeted greetings on the new year's second day over the Canadian prairie province city of Calgary.

Unlike the new year shooting star show lineup, the International Space Station does not require viewers to distance themselves from artificial lights. NASA's Spot the Station notes: "It is bright enough that it can even be seen from the middle of a city!"

Earth-based observers are able to see the International Space Station: Tim Peake @astro_timpeake via Twitter Jan. 2, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Quadrantid shooting star: David, Bergin, Emmett and Elliott, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/beglen/24169216155/

Earth-based observers are able to see the International Space Station: Tim Peake‏ @astro_timpeake via Twitter Jan. 2, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/astro_timpeake/status/683412831279132672

For further information:

"January 2016 -- Where to look for the planets." Night Sky Online.
Available @ http://nightskyonline.info/?page_id=18522

Kronk, Gary W. "Quadrantids." Meteor Showers Online.
Available @ http://meteorshowersonline.com/quadrantids.html

McClure, Bruce. "Everything you need to know: Quadrantid meteor shower." EarthSky > Tonight > Astronomy Essentials. Jan 2, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-quadrantid-meteor-shower

McClure, Bruce, and Deborah Byrd. "EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2016." EarthSky > Tonight > Astronomy Essentials. April 23, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide

"Meteors & Meteorites: Quadrantids." NASA Solar System Exploration > Planets > Meteors.
Available @ http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/meteors/quadrantids

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "What's Up for January 2016." YouTube. Dec. 30, 2015.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j5-rRiUNbU

Rendtel, Jürgen. "International Meteor Organization 2016 Meteor Shower Calendar." International Meteor Organization.
Available @ http://www.imo.net/files/data/calendar/cal2016.pdf

Tim Peake‏ @astro_timpeake. "Calgary looking beautiful in the snow today - a fun city." Twitter. Jan. 2, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/astro_timpeake/status/683412831279132672