However, some scientists think it might be related to a dead comet called C/1490 Y1 or fall under a new type of object called a “rock comet.”Īt its peak, the Quadrantids register around 80 meteors per hour observed in an area. Discovered in 2003, asteroid 2003 EH1 is small and measures only about two miles (three kilometers) in diameter. This dust gradually spreads into a debris trail, which Earth passes through in early January every year. As asteroid 2003 H1 travels around the Sun, it sheds dust. While the majority of meteor showers originate from comets, the Quadrantids appear to come from an asteroid. The Quadrantids differ from most meteor showers. Even from space though, astronauts may struggle to see the flashes due to bright city lights below or from the moonlight, said Cooke. The bright meteors in Koch’s picture are fireballs. Fireballs last longer than the average meteor streak because they are born from larger pieces of material. Quadrantids are generally faint but periodically have bright fireball meteors-large explosions of light and color. “Astronauts see the meteors when they look down and see them burning up near Earth’s atmosphere, appearing as streaks of light.” The meteor is just a little piece of rock, but it is so dark and moves so fast that you don’t see it whiz by,” said Bill Cooke, lead at the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office. “Meteors fly by the ISS all the time, but the astronauts don’t see them. The image was created using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) “day-night band” from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership and Black Marble data. The image below shows the position of the aurora in relation to the ISS orbit. She also captured an aurora over the region around the same time. The composite image above was taken by astronaut Christina Koch as the International Space Station (ISS) passed over Edmonton, Canada, around 4:30 a.m. On January 4, 2020, astronauts saw the spectacle from above. As the fragments collide with our atmosphere, they disintegrate and create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky. Every January, bits of asteroid 2003 EH1 cross paths with Earth’s orbit to create a beautiful annual meteor shower: the Quadrantids.