Meteor shower on January 3 and 4

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

The first meteor shower next year can be seen on January 3 and 4 in the Eastern horizon, the Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technology (ACCIMT) said yesterday.

This meteor shower named Quadrantids can be seen from anywhere in the island. The shower can be seen in a collective flock of stars named Bootes.

The public can see the Quadrantids at 4 am. They will also be able to witness around 20 to 30 meteorites for about an hour, ACCIMI said in a release.

The public can obtain more details on 0112-651 566. A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering the earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.