Stargazers will be able to witness the greatest activity of the Quadrantid meteor shower, as well as the New Year’s parade of planets and the largest Sun with the onset of 2022, head of the Department of Methodological Support of the Moscow Planetarium, astronomer Lyudmila Koshman, told TASS.
(Yuri Smityuk/TASS) MOSCOW - Stargazers will be able to witness the greatest activity of the Quadrantid meteor shower, as well as the New Year's parade of planets and the largest Sun with the onset of 2022, head of the Department of Methodological Support of the Moscow Planetarium, astronomer Lyudmila Koshman, told TASS. The Quadrantid stream is going to reach its peak in the early hours of January 4. Scientists expect up to 120 meteors per hour, which is one or two shooting stars per minute. "In 2022, the conditions for observing meteors are favorable [all over Russia]. The best time for observing will be from midnight until dawn, when the radiant is as high as possible above the horizon," the Russian astronomer noted. On January 4, the Earth will pass perihelion, the point of the orbit that is nearest to the Sun. Our planet is going to be at its minimum distance from the Sun, hence the celestial body will appear largest to us. "The Sun's visible diameter [on th