The Delta Cancrids is a medium strength meteor shower

Meteor shower

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...

 lasting from December 14 to February 14, the main shower from January 1 to January 24. The radiant

Radiant (meteor shower)

The radiant or apparent radiant of a meteor shower is the point in the sky, from which meteors appear to originate. The Perseids, for example, are meteors which appear to come from a point within the constellation of Perseus....

 is located in the constellation of Cancer

Cancer (constellation)

Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Its symbol is . Cancer is small and its stars are faint...

, near Delta Cancri

Delta Cancri

Delta Cancri is an orange giant star approximately 180 light-years away in the constellation Cancer. It has the traditional name Asellus Australis which in Latin means "southern donkey colt"...

. It peaks on January 17 each year, with only four meteors per hour. It was first discovered in 1872, but the first solid evidence of this phenomenon came in 1971. The source of this meteor shower is unknown, it has been suggested that it is similar to the orbit of asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 2001 YB5

2001 YB5

2001 YB5 is classified astronomically as a near earth asteroid....

.