“Shooting stars” that emanate from the brilliant Quadrantid meteor will kick off a new year of skywatching in the country.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, the annual Quadrantid meteor shower will be active until Tuesday.
Meteors or “falling stars” can be seen at the rate of up to 40 meteors per hour.
The shower will appear to radiate from the constellation of Bootes, which is below the Big Dipper constellation, in the northeast horizon.
PAGASA explained that the Quadrantid meteor shower hits the Earth’s atmosphere at the rate of about 40 kilometers per second.
The incinerated dust are said to be particles apparently derived from the debris ejected by the near-Earth asteroid 2003 EH, it added.
PAGASA also noted that stars that form the famous equilateral triangle in the sky, known as the “Winter Triangle,” rises after sunset this month.
The Winter Triangle is composed of Betelgeuse, the super giant red star and the prominent star of the famous constellation Orion; Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, in the constellation Canis Major; and Procyon, the brightest star of the constellation Canis Minor. (Ellalyn Ruiz)
