Another astronomical event these days is the quadrantids, which is one of the most intense meteor showers of the year, it is considered one of the three best together with the Perseids and the Geminids, they are somewhat rare because unlike most meteor showers which are the remains that comets leave in their wake, as the comets lose their ice, since they are transformed into gas by the heat of the sun and in that process they drag dust and rocks that are also in the kite.
The quadrantids do not come from a comet, they come from an asteroid 20031, possibly an extinct comet of which only the rocky part remains and perhaps some metal, but which would be indistinguishable from a normal asteroid, it is of a respectable size, it has between 2 to 3.2 km in diameter, the important question, if the Earth crosses the river of remains left by this asteroid, it will also mean that the Earth crosses the orbit of the asteroid and therefore, Is there a risk of impact? No, at least in the next 100 to 200 years, the asteroid's orbit is not in the same plane as that of the Earth and the point where both orbits intersect is called a node.
The Earth crosses the orbit of 2003 EH1 every January, but the asteroid and the Earth do not coincide at the same point in space at the same time. Fortunately, according to the most advanced calculations, the minimum distance at which this asteroid could be from our planet would be 1.5 million km. It is a more than safe distance, although this does not mean that it will be like this forever; end up placing it in a position of risk for us, but if that happens, it will be several centuries from now, let's hope that by then the Earth and humanity will have some effective planetary defense system.
At the moment, what we get from this asteroid are its remains in the form of dust, grains and small rocks, perhaps from time to time a much larger rock, because there may be fragments of several meters in diameter hanging around, all these fragments are what originate what we call shooting stars and which more technically are called meteors, if they shine very bright, then they are called bolides and if they reach a brightness similar to that of the full moon, then they are called superbolides.
The Earth begins to cross the trail of debris around December 28 and leaves this trail around approximately January 12. The peak of maximum activity in 2026 will be the night of January 3 to 4 with up to 120 meteors per hour. Under ideal conditions, these fragments will enter the atmosphere at about 41 km per second and practically all of them end up being disintegrated in the upper part of the atmosphere. Unfortunately, this year we will not have ideal conditions, as which coincides with a supermoon, so the lunar glow will mask the glow of smaller meteors.
If you want to see this meteor shower, look for an elevated place, away from the city lights, once you get your eyes used to the darkness, locate the constellation of boats or the bollero, which for you to locate would be near the tail of the Big Dipper and you have to locate that constellation because the meteors seem to come out from that point. The best time will be in the early morning or before dawn, when the radiant, that is, the point where the meteors come from, will be highest.
You don't need a telescope or binoculars, just look at the sky patiently and enjoy the show, and here I give you a trick, if you can block the moonlight with a tree or a building by looking for the right angle, you will gain darkness and with this you will be able to see many more meteors.
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