Quadrantid Meteor Shower 2026 Peak

What this countdown tracks

The clock counts down to the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower on the night of January 3 into the early hours of January 4, 2026. The Quadrantids are one of the year's three strongest annual showers and they open the meteor calendar with a sharp, six-hour peak that can deliver up to 120 meteors an hour from a dark site.

About this celestial event

The Quadrantids are unusual on two counts. First, their parent body is not a comet but the minor planet 2003 EH1, an asteroid that itself may be the burnt-out core of an extinct comet last observed in the 1490s. Second, the shower's radiant lies in a constellation that no longer officially exists — Quadrans Muralis, the "mural quadrant" charted by Jerome Lalande in 1795 and removed by the IAU in 1922. The radiant now sits inside the boundary of modern Boötes, between the Big Dipper's handle and the head of Draco, but the historical name has stuck for the shower.

The Quadrantids are famous among meteor observers for their fireballs. Bright, slow blue-green meteors are common, and the shower regularly produces some of the year's most photographed bolides. The trade-off is the peak's narrowness: while most major showers maintain near-peak activity for a full night or two, the Quadrantids hit their best rates for only six to eight hours, so the timing of the peak in your time zone matters far more than usual.

Best viewing

For 2026, the predicted peak is around 06:00 UTC on January 4 — favouring observers across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, who will have the radiant high in the north-east in the small hours of January 4 local time. North American observers in the eastern half of the continent will catch the building tail of the peak before dawn, while western North America and the Pacific are less favourable. The Moon is a waxing gibbous that sets after midnight, leaving the prime pre-dawn hours dark.

Best practice is the same for every shower. Find the darkest sky you can, give your eyes 20 minutes to adapt, lie back so the whole sky is in your field of view, and look toward the zenith rather than directly at the radiant — meteors with the longest trains will appear away from the radiant point.

Past peaks

• 2025 Quadrantids — peak on January 3 with bright Moon interference cutting observed rates
• 2024 Quadrantids — peak around 09:00 UTC on January 4, favouring eastern North America
• 2023 Quadrantids — outburst observed by IMO with corrected ZHR ~150
• 2020 Quadrantids — well-documented peak with strong fireball component
• 2014 Quadrantids — Geminid-rivaling rates over Europe in pre-dawn hours

How to observe

The American Meteor Society and International Meteor Organization publish nightly rate curves and the predicted peak time for the year. NASA's Meteor Watch and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada offer observer guidance. Live streams from the Virtual Telescope Project and the Subaru Telescope's Hawaii feed cover the peak. No equipment is needed — naked-eye observation under a dark sky from roughly 02:00 local time onward is the standard approach.

Related countdowns

The Quadrantids open a calendar that runs through Lyrid meteor shower 2026, Eta Aquariid meteor shower 2026, Perseid meteor shower 2026, and culminates with the Geminid meteor shower 2026. Pair with the March equinox 2026 on the broader sky calendar.

FAQ

When does the Quadrantid meteor shower peak in 2026? Around 06:00 UTC on January 4, 2026, with a sharp six- to eight-hour window of best activity. Where is the Quadrantid shower visible? Best from mid- and high-northern-latitude sites; the radiant in modern Boötes climbs after local midnight in the Northern Hemisphere. How can I observe the Quadrantids? Naked-eye from a dark site between roughly 02:00 and dawn local time on January 4; no telescope needed. Why is the shower called Quadrantids? It is named for Quadrans Muralis, an obsolete constellation removed from the official list in 1922; the radiant now sits in Boötes.