Can’t get enough of the spectacle in the sky? Then you are in luck on January 4th! You will not see any fireworks in the Zoetermeer sky, but you will see about 70 to 95 shooting stars per hour.
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The website heaven.observe reports that the Boötiden meteor shower will reach its maximum at around 5:15 a.m. on Wednesday, January 4, 2023. Then most of the stars will fly past the Earth.
Best viewing moment
The Boötids meteors have long trails and are bluish. The best time to spot them is around 07:00 on January 4. The moon sets at 7:01 a.m. so the moonlight doesn’t interfere. It will be dusk around 8:00 am and the sun will rise at 8:48 am, then the stars will no longer be visible.
What is a Shooting Star?
Shooting stars are flashes of light that occasionally appear in the starry sky. The flashes have nothing to do with stars. They are caused by space debris, often no larger than a grain of sand. That debris ends up in the Earth’s atmosphere about 100 kilometers above our heads. Due to the high speeds, the air at the front of such a grit particle is compressed, heated and made to glow. We see that as a flash. The typical speeds of the meteors in this shower are quite average at about 41 kilometers per second (about 149,040 kilometers per hour).
Source: Heaven.observe.com
Shooting stars Zoetermeer
If you are going to watch this natural phenomenon, it is best to do so in or near the Bentwoud, the Zoetermeerse Plas, in the Buytenpark or another place where it is dark. During the peak of the star shower, about 70 to 95 meteors per hour may be visible. It is a pity that the moon is so present, because without the moonlight you would have seen about 130 shooting stars per hour in the Zoetermeer sky.