It seems the universe is looking out for the thousands of people in Birmingham who found out the city’s New Year fireworks were fake.
Because now the night sky is about to throw its own light show.
The Quadrantids, the first meteor shower of 2025, will see some 120 bright fireballs glide across the sky from dusk to dawn every hour.
What are meteor showers?
For one, these shooting stars aren’t actually stars.
They’re the rocky leftovers of an icy comet that fall into Earth’s atmosphere – when they do so, scientists call these debris meteors.
These dirty snowballs are constantly swinging around the Sun and, eventually, the Earth intersects with the rubble trailing them.
‘The small pieces of rock and ice, usually about the size of a grain of sand, hit our atmosphere at speeds above 30 km/s. Friction heats the meteors up, causing them to light up and glow brightly enough for us to see,’ said Dr Mark Norris, a senior lecturer in astrophysics at the University of Central Lancashire.
When this happens, however, the comet itself is long gone. It can take decades for the Earth’s orbit to align with the comet’s tail.
Most of the debris is no bigger than a grain of sand. But when the Earth reaches the densest part of this fallout, it’s called the peak.
What are the Quaratids?
The meteor shower is named after Quadrans Muralis, an ancient constellation that astronomers lump in with the constellation Boötes.
This annual cosmic fireworks display was first spotted in 1825. About 100 years later, astronomers clocked that it was coming from the small asteroid 2003 EH1. (Don’t worry, it’s not going to collide with the Earth anytime soon and wipe life out.)
‘The Quadrantid meteor shower is quite unusual because it occurs when the Earth crosses the path of an asteroid, 2003 EH1,’ Sara Russell, a professor of planetary sciences and leader of the Planetary Materials Group at the Natural History Museum, told Metro.
‘Most meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through the tail left by a comet rather than an asteroid because comets tend to be more fragile and bits come off them more easily.’
When is the best time to see the Quadrantids meteor shower?
Active between December 27 and January 12, the Quadrantids peak around tonight and tomorrow morning and is best viewed in Europe.
Usually, the radiant – the point in the sky where all the blue meteors seem to shoot out from – is the constellation Boötes below the Big Dipper.
Usually, the best time to see a meteor shower is a clear sky, no moon or cloud cover and between midnight and sunrise.
‘At the peak of this meteor shower, as many as 1-2 shooting stars a minute could be visible,’ added Dr Norris.
‘Then as time goes on the rate of shooting stars will drop, but it will continue to produce meteorites for another 10 days or so.
‘The peak will take place around sunset today and will mostly be visible to the North West of the UK.’
The Meteor Shower Flux Monitoring website is a tool that says when meteor activity is expected (today, for example, it forecasts 130 meteors an hour). You can use this to know exactly when’s best to crane your neck.
How to watch a meteor shower
Planetary scientist and meteorite expert Dr Ashley King, of the Natural Museum in London, has a few tips.
You usually want to be as far away from a city centre as you can be to avoid light pollution, but the Quadrantids tend to be so dazzling they can be viewed slightly.
‘The darker the skies, the better your chances of seeing the really faint meteors as well,’ says Ashley.
‘You could go to the coast or stand on a hill in the middle of the countryside somewhere.’
If you’re worried about light pollution, you can use maps like this one to see where near you is darker.
There’s no need to pack a telescope, binoculars or any fancy tech. You can see meteor showers just fine with the naked eye.
A perk of forgoing observing equipment is that the meteors will zip across a large swathe of the sky, so you don’t want anything that could limit how much you can view.
‘Turn off phones (or at least make sure they are not emitting any light) and get your eyes used to the dark, and hopefully, you will see the meteors streaking across the sky,’ added Russel.
When are the next meteor showers in 2025?
If you can’t catch the Quadrantids tonight, don’t worry.
More Trending
While whether you can see them depends on where you live, the International Meteor Organization lists 12 more expected showers that will light up the skies this year.
The main celestial events for your calendar include the Lyrid meteor shower, which takes place from mid to late April.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks in mid-August from the constellation Perseus.
The Geminids, which occur every December, radiate from the constellation Gemini.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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