The new astronomical year begins, as every year, with a shower of passing stars, the Quadrantids, which this year will peak in Greece and the rest of the northern hemisphere tonight.

However, this year’s Quaternions may be overshadowed by the fact that in a few days, on the evening of Friday 6 January, there will be a full moon – the first of 2023 – which will make the sky quite bright. Therefore, only the brightest meteors will be possible to be observed.

The next major event will be the Lyrids which will peak on the 22nd and 23rd of April.

What are Quaternions?

The Quaternions, which usually last from January 1st to 5th are best seen in more northern latitudes.

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At their peak, up to 40 meteors per hour enter Earth’s atmosphere at over 40 kilometers per second, while up to 120 meteors have been reported in some years.

It is a better-than-average meteor shower, although it is less well-known than others such as the Leonids, Orionids and Didymides, as its meteors are fainter, but often light up the sky with unusually large “tails”.

The first observations of the passing Quaternions in Europe were made by the Brussels Observatory in 1825.