By SHIORI OGAWA/ Staff Writer
January 3, 2022 at 17:35 JST
The Quadrantids meteor shower over a monument of an African elephant in Usa, Oita Prefecture, on Jan. 4, 2019 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The hours before dawn on Jan. 4 will be the best time to view the Quadrantids meteor shower, according to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
It said numerous fireballs should be observable during that period in the darkness of the new moon.
The Quadrantids meteor shower is well known for its large numbers of shooting stars, along with the Geminid meteor shower in December and the Perseid meteor shower in August.
But the Quadrantids meteor shower has a relatively short peak period of only six hours or so.
The observatory recommends sky gazers go to areas with no street lights in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 4, and give their eyes about 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness.
They could spot 30 to 50 meteors per hour if conditions are good, the observatory said.
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