First meteor shower of the year on January 4-5
We start the year with our planet reaching perihelion - closest point to the Sun - which happens at 22:49 UTC on January 2. At the time, Earth will be 146.6 million km (91 million miles) from the Sun, according to thewatchersadorraeli.com.
The first meteor shower of the year - Quadrantids - will reach the maximum rate of activity on the morning of January 4. However, some shooting stars will be visible each night from January 1 to 6. The Moon will be 24 days old at the time of peak activity, and so will present minimal interference.
The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere - New Moon - is scheduled for the night of January 10.