Quadrantids meteor shower peaks tonight

The first meteor shower of 2015 will peak late Saturday night into the early morning hours of Sunday, according to NASA. 

The Quadrantids meteor shower is an annual event known for its "bright fireball meteors," which during its peak can feature 80 Quadrantid meteors per hour, NASA said, adding that the shower is best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere.  

The rates of the meteors will also increase after midnight, peaking between 3 a.m. and dawn. 

The meteors are actually remnants of asteroid 2003 EH1, which made its closest approach to the Earth in March and take 5.52 years to orbit the sun once, NASA said. 

Unfortunately, NASA says "a bright and waxing" moon will "wash out all but the brightest meteors," alhough it will still be possible to see the show in the skies with the right timing. 

Space.com said "this particular meteor shower display is at its best just before the break of dawn, about 6 a.m. local time."

That's because that is the time when the radiant, or the point in the sky from where the Quadrantids appear to come from, "is ascending the dark northeastern sky." 

The International Meteor Organization says Quadrantids appears every year either in the final days of December or the first two weeks of January when the "Earth crosses the stream of debris from fragment of a comet" and that the meteroids hit the atmosphere at a speed of 25 miles per second. 

Al Jazeera