Starwatch: the annual display of the Quadrantid meteor shower

The Quadrantids are unusual in that they originate not from a comet but from an asteroid

See in the new year with the Quadrantids meteor shower. Although the peak of the shower does not arrive until the night of 3-4 January, meteor activity can stretch for a couple of weeks around this point, lasting until 10 January. The peak of the Quadrantids can be spectacular but quick, lasting just a few hours most years. If you catch it though, on average you can expect to see some 100 meteors an hour. The meteors are usually faint however and only really visible from the northern hemisphere, because the radiant is located quite far in the northern sky. The chart shows the view looking north from London at midnight on the night of 3-4 January 2020.

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