In what would be the first celestial event to be seen in the New Year, the annual Quadrantid meteor shower is expected to peak in the pre-dawn hours on January 4. Scientists have suggested sky-watchers to observe this meteor shower from midnight and on through to sunrise on Monday morning so as to have the best view.

The Quadrantids’ performances in the past suggest that the meteor shower would exhibit 50-75 meteoroids per hour, a count that may go up to 100 provided the sky is exceptionally clear and dark. This would rank the Quadrantids up there with the Perseid and Geminid meteor showers, though Quadrantids are not as famous as the other two.

While the Perseids peak in mid-August, the Geminids are observed in mid-December. Quadrantids are much less well known despite the fact that, at its strongest, these are no less in strength as compared to the other two.

“This year offers a reasonably good possibility for viewing the Quadrantids from our part of the world. The shower is predicted to peak around 1 a.m. MST, and the moon, which should be a somewhat thick crescent two days past its last quarter phase, should not interfere too much. The biggest unknown, of course, is the weather”, say astronomers.