Quadrantids meteor shower: How to watch first meteor shower of the year in India TONIGHT

The Quarantids meteor shower is the first one of 2019 and it will peak overnight between January 3 and 4. The shower happens every January and in previous years it has produced as many as 100 meteors per hour. NASA has called it “one of the best annual meteor showers”, however the meteors are faint so they are easy to miss in the night sky.

How to watch the meteor shower in India

The meteor shower is best viewed by people in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Europe.

As the Quadrantids coincide with a new moon, the night sky will be darker which will make for a better experience for star gazers.

The peak only last a few hours compared to the Perseid or Geminid meteor shower which persist for a day of more.

There won’t be as much visibility of the meteor shower from India as Europe or North America but it is possible to catch a glimpse of the celestial spectacle.

NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com: “A lot of meteor showers last days – the Quarantids last a few hours.

“Europe is favoured to view the Quarandtids [because] the peak is around 2 GMT, but viewers in North America might catch a few Quadrantids in the ramp-up to the peak.”

The best time to view the shower is between midnight and dawn, but the most meteors will be visible in the last hour before dawn.

You have to be in the right part of the Earth to view the shower, ideally with the radiant high in the sky.

The Quarantids are named after a constellation that no longer exists.

The meteors appear to come from the now-defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis.

The constellation was discovered in 1795 by a French astronomer, but is no longer recognised by the International Astronomical Union and is today considered part of the constellation of Bootes.

To find the radiant point where the meteors appear to originate from, look for the constellation Bootes.

The easiest way to find it is look north for the Big Dipper, then follow the “arc” of the Big Dipper’s handle across the sky to the red giant star Arcturus, which anchors the bottom of Bootes.

According to NASA, the reason the peak is so short is because of the “shower’s thin stream of particles and the fact that the Earth crosses the stream at a perpendicular angle.”

The shooting star will be visible to the naked eye, so you will not need any special equipment.

However you will need to spend some time outside to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness.