TThe Earth will arrive at its closest point to the Sun in its orbit, known as perihelion—a distance of 91,399,454 miles—at 8:51 a.m.

"This year’s Quadrantid meteor shower is predicted to occur six days after the full Moon. Unfortunately, a bright gibbous Moon will curtail most attempts to view this fine annual shower, which is noted for its intense and sharply peaked display. This year, maximum activity for the “Quads,” which only lasts for a few hours, is 10 AM in the East and 7 AM in the West. What this means for the Quadrantids is that their very sharp peak will be missed in the Eastern US and will come around sunrise in the West. The Quadrantids produce 60 to 120/hr, but six hours before and after the peak the rates are only about one-quarter as strong. So Easterners will likely see rates of about 15 to 30/hr, while Westerners will likely see rates climb toward perhaps 40 to 80 or even 50 to 100 per hour before the sky gets too bright. Under better conditions in good years, a single observer between midnight and dawn might expect to see 40 to 60 of these moderately swift blue meteors per hour. The shower’s radiant—the point from where the meteors will appear to dart from in the sky—is halfway between the head of Draco and the end of the Big Dipper’s handle." - The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

"Mercury is at greatest elongation, 18.6° east of the Sun. From about January 21st to 28th, you should see Mercury fairly easily if you look west-southwest from a spot with an unobstructed horizon 30 minutes after sunset. At that time Mercury is at least 10° above the horizon for observers around latitude 40° north. If you keep watching as the sky grows darker, you may see that Mercury is flanked by the stars Fomalhaut far to its left and Altair even farther to its right, but at magnitude -0.5, the speedy planet is far brighter than either star." - The Old Farmer’s Almanac.