The first meteor shower of 2024 will peak late Wednesday and into Thursday morning, but could cloud cover spoil the show in the Chicago area?
The Quadrantids will hit their peak early Thursday morning in the Northern Hemisphere, raining down anywhere from 60 to 200 meteors per hour over the span of several hours.
While the meteor shower is one of the most prolific of the year, residents in the Chicago area unfortunately will have to contend with cloud cover for most of the overnight period, according to the NBC 5 Storm Team.
A limited opportunity for some clearing exists in the far northern suburbs, but most of the region won’t be able to see much of the Quadrantids this year.
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The timing of the clouds is especially unfortunate because the peak time for the Quadrantids is a matter of just hours, one of the shortest peak times of all major meteor showers, according to NASA.
The Quadrantids are unusual among meteor showers as they originate from the remnants of an asteroid, rather than a comet. The asteroid 2003 EH1 was first discovered in 2003, with astronomers discovering that its tail of debris was responsible for the meteor shower.
They’re named after the Quadrans Muralis, a constellation that was omitted from the International Astronomical Union’s list of recognized modern constellations when it was formulated in the 1920’s, according to NASA.
