Quadrantid Meteor Shower ‘Fireballs’ to Grace the Night Sky in January 2022—Here’s What You Need to Know:

Illustration - Cheah Yung Jien/Shutterstock

How better to celebrate New Year’s than with a cosmic fireworks show?

People will be setting off fireworks in spectacular fashion across the globe—from Tampa to Tokyo—ushering in 2022. But the heavens have a cosmic light show of their own in store—balls of fire shooting from the sky, called the Quadrantids, expected to peak early January. This celestial display also coincides with the new moon, making for darker skies and optimal meteor viewing.

What are the Quadrantids?

The Quadrantids are an annual shower of meteors—which, NASA explains, first form as an accumulation of cosmic dust from a comet, becoming a dusty trail around the comet, which falls from the sky in the form of meteors when Earth passes through along its orbit. These hunks of matter appear as colorful streaks as they burn up in our atmosphere, travelling at a blistering speed of 25.5 miles (41 kilometers) per second.