The Quadrantids meteor shower will light up the night skies until 12 January.

Stargazers are in for a treat with a spectacular meteor shower set to light up the night sky in the coming weeks.

The Quadrantids meteor shower will potentially be visible between now and 12 January, the Royal Astronomical Society said, with the peak time set for 3 January.

Deputy director Dr Robert Massey said the shower would have a "really sharp peak over a few hours" while the Royal Astronomical Society has said fireballs may still be visible up to 12 January.

"If you're on the west coast of the US, or in the Pacific region, you could see maybe 70 or 80 an hour. If you're in the UK you're going to see somewhat fewer than that. But it's still a strong shower," said Dr Massey.

"The great advantage this year is that the Moon isn't interfering with it, so you haven't got a Full Moon in the sky - it's a very thin crescent - [which] means the light will not be a big problem."

Meteors are the result of small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed - for the Quadrantids this will typically be around 40 km per second, according to the Royal Astronomical Society.

As the pieces of debris heat up due to friction with the air and are destroyed, the superheated air around them glows briefly - making it visible from the ground as a 'shooting star'.

Throughout the year between six and 10 random 'sporadic' meteors are visible each hour, but during a meteor shower much more can be seen.

According to Dr Massey, what is unusual about the Quadrantids is that they are associated with the near-Earth asteroid (196256) 2003 EH1, which may be an extinct comet seen by Chinese astronomers in 1490.

He said: "We appear to be running into a trail of debris associated with it, so the thinking is that might actually be an extinct comet - so no longer anything generating a comet, doesn't look like a comet these days, just looks like a dot on even the largest telescopes.

"But more than 500 years ago there was a comet seen by the Chinese and it may be connected with that. It may be that this comet was once active [but] has left a lot of debris in orbit around the solar system which the Earth runs into once a year."

It's been possible to catch a glimpse of the Quadrantids since New Year, and will still be until 12 January, according to the Royal Astronomical Society.

However, the peak time to get the best look is on Friday, 3 January, either first thing in the morning before dawn or in the evening after sunset, when 50 or more meteors could be visible.

The shower will be at its most active at 3pm GMT but obviously won't be as visible as when it is darker, hence the RAS suggesting looking before sunrise or after sunset.

You don't need any special equipment to watch a meteor shower, and they are best observed with the naked eye, the RAS says, along with: "a reclining chair, a warm blanket and a hot drink".

It's also not worth trying to use binoculars or a telescope because this actually make it harder to spot them - as you can only see a tiny part of the sky this way.

The best thing to do, Dr Massey said, is to get as far away from light pollution as possible.

He said: "They won't be the brightest meteors on the whole, but [the Quadrantids] do include a fair number of fireballs.

"A fireball is a dramatic-sounding thing but what it really means is a really bright meteor. The Quadrantids is a meteor shower which produces that kind of event.

"So for that reason alone, if you have the time to look out and the weather is good, then do take a look because it's a perfect New Year treat."

For people who want to take pictures of the meteor shower, it's possible - but probably not with your phone.

"You're unlikely to catch anything [with a phone] because they're so fleeting - they only last perhaps a fraction of a second - so your reactions are not going to be good enough to photograph it," said Dr Massey.

"So what people tend to do is what are called long exposures. They open up the lens or the shutter and leave it running for several minutes, or anything up to half an hour. In some cases people have sky cameras which run all night.

"You have to do that because you never know exactly when a meteor is coming. Photographing meteor showers requires patience!"