iN VIDEO: New year 2021 starts with a meteor shower

The new year gets underway with the first meteor shower of 2021.

The Quadrantid meteor shower is known to produce between 50 and 100 meteors an hour in a dark sky, but their peak is extremely narrow.

This year’s event will be most visible from late at night on Jan. 2 until dawn on Jan. 3.

According to EarthSky.org, the best viewing time for Kamloops and Okanagan residents will be during the predawn hours of Jan. 3, but meteor showers are notorious for being difficult to predict accurately. It may pay to take a few glances at the nighttime sky at different hours of the night.

The waning “Cold Moon” of Dec. 29, is the last of 13 full moons in 2020. It’s appearance in the night sky may reduce visibility of the Quadrantids, but it’s still worthwhile keeping an eye out for them, as they are considered one of the better annual meteor showers, according to NASA.

Seeing the meteor shower may be a matter of luck this year, with Environment Canada calling for mostly cloudy skies and a chance of showers Saturday, Jan. 2 through Monday, Jan. 4.

%%Embed1%%

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to tips@infonews.ca and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.