Technologies

Quadrantids meteor shower: How to watch the shooting star show peak tonight

It’s likely to be a good year for the meteor shower, with the potential to produce over 100 shooting stars per hour under ideal conditions.

The best meteor shower of 2022 for stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere could hit within just a few days of New Year’s tonight and tomorrow morning.

The Quadrantid meteor shower hits its peak right around the first week of the year every January and offers some of the highest hourly rates of shooting stars among the major showers on the calendar. This year it comes as the moon is in its new, or darkened, phase, making the prospects even better.

Under absolutely perfect conditions, which would be something like sitting on a mountain top with clear skies, a 360-degree view and robotic eyes capable of scanning the entire dome all at once, you might be able to see up to 120 meteors per hour. That’s approaching what skywatchers might define as a meteor storm.

«The Quadrantids have the potential to be the strongest shower of the year but usually fall short due to the short length of maximum activity (six hours) and the poor weather experienced during early January,» writes the American Meteor Society.

AMS estimates seeing 25 meteors per hour is a better place to set expectations, but the Royal Astronomical Society says «observers enjoying dark skies could see 50 or more meteors an hour.»

The Quadrantids can be traced to particles left behind by the asteroid 2003 EH1, which might be an extinct comet seen in earlier centuries by astronomers, most notably over China in 1490.

Each year in late December and early January, Earth drifts through a cloud of debris associated with the near-Earth object. As tiny pebbles and motes of dust impact our atmosphere, they burn up, sometimes in spectacular fashion.

«The pieces of debris heat up due to friction with the air, and are usually destroyed in under a second at altitudes above 80 kilometers (50 miles),» reads a statement from the RAS. «The superheated air around the meteor glows briefly, and is visible from the ground as a streak of light known as a ‘shooting star.'»

The best time to try and catch the Quadrantids is ultimately going to be whenever skies are clearest and you can get far away from any urban light pollution, as these are the most important components to seeing the show. That said, if you’ve got clear, dark skies all night where you are, you might try heading out just after dusk Monday, as this will put you closer to the actual peak of activity for the meteor shower. This is also the time with the best chance of seeing bright, so-called «Earth grazer» fireballs near the horizon.

That said, just before dawn on Tuesday is also a good time to go Quadrantid hunting, because although it’s a little further removed from the shower’s peak, the area that meteors appear to emanate from will be higher in the night sky, increasing your odds of catching more.

In other words, any time you spend outside looking up Monday night or Tuesday morning is a good investment for most skywatchers.

All you need to do to see some meteors is head outside in a place with a broad view of a clear sky unspoiled by light pollution. Dress appropriately for the weather, bring snacks and plan on at least an hour for the full experience. This includes about 15 minutes for your eyes to adjust. Lie on your back on a blanket, hammock or lounge chair, relax and simply watch.

If you want to be advanced, you can orient yourself to face in the direction of the constellation Bootes, which is where Quadrantid meteors will appear to emanate outward like spokes on a wheel. Truly, though, this is not necessary and a watchful eye is really all you need to watch this long-running light show.

Technologies

The Black Friday Gaming Deals You Want Are Already Here, Including PlayStation, Xbox and Alienware

Technologies

The Black Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Is at a Record $443 Off at Amazon for Black Friday

A Galaxy Z Fold 7 price war between Amazon and Samsung gives us a record-low deal for one color.

If you’re looking for a foldable iPhone, you’re gonna need to wait until 2026, but if you’re looking for the best foldable phone of 2025, there are great deals on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 right now at both Amazon and Samsung, with the former dropping the black version of Samsung’s foldable phone to a record-low $1,557. All other models are $1,600 at both Amazon and Samsung, a $400 discount.

Samsung’s unique foldable phones had an awkward adolescence, but after getting her hands on the new lineup, CNET reviewer Abrar Al-Heet confirms that the latest Z Fold 7 «just feels right.» For one, it’s incredibly sleek at just 8.9mm thick when closed or 4.2mm thick when open, which is so thin you may even forget that it’s foldable.

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Despite weighing just 215 grams, this foldable features some serious hardware. It has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch interior display with a fluid 120Hz refresh rate. It’s equipped with a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 12GB of RAM to support tons of helpful AI features and functions, and comes with Android 16 and Samsung One UI 8 right out of the box.

The camera system is also pretty impressive, boasting a 200-megapixel rear camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide shooting and a 10-megapixel front camera on both the cover and interior screens. Plus, it’s equipped with a 4,400-mAh battery for all-day use.

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Why this deal matters

With an unbelievably sleek design and cutting-edge hardware, the impressive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is our favorite foldable phone on the market. But it also comes with a staggering $2,000 price tag, and if you’re hoping to get your hands on one, this $443 discount is a way to rack up some serious savings and help cushion the blow of its considerable cost. Just be sure to get your order in soon, as we doubt this deal will remain live for long.

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Technologies

I Almost Missed This Deal Within a Deal for Baseus’ Bose-Infused Headphones and Earbuds

Baseus’ new Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 models with Sound by Bose are 23% to 33% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But Baseus throws in its BC1 clip-on earbuds or other «free» bonus items to make the deal even sweeter.

I gave CNET Editors’ Choice awards to Baseus’ Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones and Inspire XP1 earbuds because they’re well designed and sound decent for what they cost. I also liked Baseus’ Inspire XC1 clip-on earbuds, which have dual- drivers and earned a spot on CNET’s best clip-on earbuds list.

Last week all three models were selling for around $110 (though they have higher list prices), but they’re now discounted to around $100 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s a deal I’d highlight on its own, but if you click through to any of those models’ Amazon product pages an look closely you’ll see that each is eligible for «one free item» with purchase.

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

You have to click the «how to claim link» and then add one of the three products to the your cart. Once one of the headphones or earbuds is added to your cart, you can click a button on the left side of screen (above the stars for average ratings) that switches the view from «qualifying items» to «benefit items.» You can then add Baseus’s BC1 clip-on earbuds, which list for $40, to your cart as a free item. Baseus’ step-up Basues MC1 Pro ($48 for Black Friday) and Inspire XC1 clip-on buds sound better, but the BC1 are fine for casual use.

If the BC1 earbuds option doesn’t thrill you, there are other freebies you can opt for. Just go back to the Amazon product page for the Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 and you’ll see options for one free item with $100, $90, $51 and $46 purchases. The $90 benefit item is a 30W dual-port fast charger (list price $20), which is decent, and the $51 benefit item is a retractable USB-C cable ($19 list) that’s useful. Don’t bother with the $46 benefit item.

You can read my full reviews of the Inspire XH1 headphones here and the Inspire XP1 earbuds here. And here’s my quick take of the Inspire XC1 earbuds:

Like Baseus’ noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds that I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 feature «Sound by Bose» and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don’t sound as good as the XP1, but they sound good for open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers, one of which is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance. While they don’t produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds’ sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material (I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks with harder driving bass).

While I prefer the design and fit of Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds (as well as the design of their case) and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds (and they play louder than the Bose), as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction.