Tonight (January 3rd) into tomorrow morning (January 4th) is the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. This meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers of the year producing around 100 meteors per hour. Although I must warn that with tonight's 75% Waxing Gibbous Moon it may drown out some of the fainter meteors. Fortunately the radiant of the Quadrantids is in the opposite part of the sky as the moon, so you may still get some good views.
This particular meteor shower is a bit finicky when it comes. The peak is estimated to be at 2:20am EST on the morning of January 4th, and usually only lasts for an hour or so from the peak time. Another tricky part about it is that the meteor shower prediction time isn't always right on, so you may have missed it by 2:20am or you may be too early.
The Quadrantid meteor shower is named after an obsolete constellation; Quadrans Muralis, which was located near the constellation Bootes. An easy way to find the radiant for this shower is to look for Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) in the Northeast and follow the handle towards the horizon. You can get a rough view of the radiant by looking in that area of the sky between Ursa Major and Bootes. Although a meteor shower radiates from a certain point you should make sure to keep an eye open for all parts of the sky as meteors can be just about anywhere.
Click to Enlarge. Showing the radiant point of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower. This picture shows the sky on the morning of January 4th at 2:30am EST.
Up here in the Adirondacks it's quite cold tonight, actually the coldest it's been all winter. With temperatures feeling below zero make sure you are bundled up. If you want to see the meteor shower but aren't willing to brave the cold there are a few other options for viewing them from within your nice warm comfy home.
Listen with Space Weather Radio
View with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
There is also this link to a NASA page which has a list of all sky cam's you may be able to view the meteor shower from.
Enjoy the show and stay warm!
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