The calendar year closes with a new moon on Dec. 30, bringing 6-foot-plus morning tides. The last of the winter meteor showers, the Quadrantids, peaks on the night of January 2 and 3. Fog permitting, we may see around 40 an hour around midnight in the eastern sky, radiating or falling from the constellation Boötes, the herdsman. Unlike other showers, which are particles of comets, this shower originates from pieces of an asteroid. While most…