The new skywatching year kicks off with the Quadrantid meteor shower in the hours before dawn on Sunday. The display is only visible to northern hemisphere skywatchers due to the location of the radiant.

Scientists say that the cosmic fireworks display originated from the asteroid 2003 EH1. The Quadrantids were named after the constellation of Quadrans Muralis. French astronomer Jerome Lalande created the wall quadrant, an early insrument used to observe and plot stars, in 1795. Though the instrument is no longer used by astronomers it was around long enough to give the January meteor shower its name.

The Quadrantids are impressive as 120 meteors per hour can be observed when the conditions are perfect. The meteors enter the atmosphere at 42 kilometers per hour. This year’s Quadrantids will be hard to watch due to the brightness of the moon.