Tonight’s sky is throwing a celestial party you won’t want to miss! The first supermoon of 2026 lights up Saturday night (January 3), while the Quadrantid meteor shower peaks just hours later. Grab your blankets and hot cocoa – here’s your cosmic cheat sheet. ☕🔭
Supermoon 101: When the full moon swings by Earth’s closest orbital point (perigee), it appears 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. While three supermoons graced 2025, 2026 brings two – tonight’s showstopper and a December 24 encore that’ll be the year’s largest. 🌝
"Supermoons aren’t rare," says Liu Zhongli of the Tianjin Science and Technology Museum, "but they’re always crowd-pleasers." Pro tip: Catch moonrise near the horizon for maximum ‘whoa’ factor.
Quadrantid Meteor Shower: These speedy fireballs face stiff competition from moonlight tonight, but hold out till pre-dawn hours tomorrow (January 4) for your best shot. Northern Hemisphere stargazers could spot 60-100 meteors/hour if clouds stay away. 🌌
Fun fact: The Quadrantids’ parent body isn’t a comet but asteroid 2003 EH1 – a cosmic rebel in the meteor world. 💫
