The Quadrantids peak on 4 January. The best night depends on where you are.
The best night is 3–4 January in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, and 4–5 January in most of Oceania. The moon is about 15% lit and rises during the night in 86 of 87 cities: the dark hours before it are the ones to watch. The radiant, in Boötes, stands highest before dawn: from a dark site, expect about 20 meteors an hour at best in most of them, and up to 73 where it climbs highest.
Where you are
Your placeWorked out when the page opens
Dark sky—
The moon—
When to watch—
The radiant—
At a dark site—
The Americas
Atlanta3–4 Jan · 1:16 – 5:15 AM · radiant 44° up · about 17 an hour
Austin3–4 Jan · 1:31 – 5:00 AM · radiant 42° up · about 14 an hour
Bogotá3–4 Jan · 3:01 – 3:22 AM · radiant 13° up · about 8 an hour
Boston3–4 Jan · 11:15 PM – 4:51 AM · radiant 42° up · about 22 an hour
Buenos Aires3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Chicago3–4 Jan · 11:26 PM – 4:58 AM · radiant 43° up · about 18 an hour
Dallas3–4 Jan · 1:12 – 5:04 AM · radiant 44° up · about 15 an hour
Denver3–4 Jan · 11:55 PM – 5:02 AM · radiant 44° up · about 14 an hour
Houston3–4 Jan · 1:24 – 4:49 AM · radiant 41° up · about 14 an hour
Las Vegas3–4 Jan · 12:03 – 4:31 AM · radiant 44° up · about 12 an hour
Lima3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Los Angeles3–4 Jan · 12:29 – 4:37 AM · radiant 45° up · about 12 an hour
Mexico City3–4 Jan · 2:33 – 4:38 AM · radiant 30° up · about 11 an hour
Miami3–4 Jan · 1:46 – 4:35 AM · radiant 36° up · about 16 an hour
Minneapolis3–4 Jan · 11:15 PM – 5:35 AM · radiant 42° up · about 17 an hour
Montréal3–4 Jan · 10:50 PM – 5:16 AM · radiant 42° up · about 22 an hour
Nashville3–4 Jan · 12:09 – 4:33 AM · radiant 44° up · about 17 an hour
New Orleans3–4 Jan · 1:02 – 4:27 AM · radiant 41° up · about 15 an hour
New York3–4 Jan · 11:42 PM – 4:57 AM · radiant 43° up · about 21 an hour
Philadelphia3–4 Jan · 11:53 PM – 4:58 AM · radiant 44° up · about 20 an hour
Phoenix3–4 Jan · 1:09 – 5:09 AM · radiant 44° up · about 12 an hour
Portland3–4 Jan · 11:06 PM – 5:41 AM · radiant 42° up · about 12 an hour
Rio de Janeiro3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Salt Lake City3–4 Jan · 12:13 – 5:35 AM · radiant 43° up · about 13 an hour
San Diego3–4 Jan · 12:34 – 4:28 AM · radiant 44° up · about 11 an hour
San Francisco3–4 Jan · 12:20 – 5:07 AM · radiant 44° up · about 11 an hour
Santiago3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
São Paulo3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Seattle3–4 Jan · 10:34 PM – 5:50 AM · radiant 40° up · about 13 an hour
Toronto3–4 Jan · 11:35 PM – 5:31 AM · radiant 42° up · about 20 an hour
Vancouver3–4 Jan · 10:04 PM – 6:03 AM · radiant 39° up · about 13 an hour
Washington, DC3–4 Jan · 12:09 – 5:02 AM · radiant 44° up · about 20 an hour
Europe
Amsterdam3–4 Jan · 6:45 PM – 6:28 AM · radiant 47° up · about 58 an hour
Athens3–4 Jan · 12:34 – 4:59 AM · radiant 47° up · about 55 an hour
Barcelona3–4 Jan · 12:31 – 5:42 AM · radiant 43° up · about 51 an hour
Berlin3–4 Jan · 6:11 PM – 5:53 AM · radiant 52° up · about 62 an hour
Brussels3–4 Jan · 9:28 PM – 6:20 AM · radiant 46° up · about 57 an hour
Copenhagen3–4 Jan · 6:09 PM – 6:18 AM · radiant 53° up · about 63 an hour
Dublin3–4 Jan · 6:28 PM – 6:22 AM · radiant 42° up · about 53 an hour
Edinburgh3–4 Jan · 6:11 PM – 6:22 AM · radiant 44° up · about 56 an hour
Hamburg3–4 Jan · 6:23 PM – 6:15 AM · radiant 50° up · about 61 an hour
Helsinki3–4 Jan · 6:11 PM – 6:38 AM · radiant 59° up · about 69 an hour
Istanbul3–4 Jan · 12:47 – 5:48 AM · radiant 51° up · about 56 an hour
Lisbon3–4 Jan · 12:39 – 5:19 AM · radiant 44° up · about 43 an hour
London3–4 Jan · 6:07 PM – 5:43 AM · radiant 44° up · about 55 an hour
Madrid3–4 Jan · 1:03 – 6:02 AM · radiant 43° up · about 47 an hour
Milan3–4 Jan · 11:19 PM – 5:30 AM · radiant 46° up · about 58 an hour
Moscow3–4 Jan · 6:28 PM – 6:38 AM · radiant 66° up · about 73 an hour
Munich3–4 Jan · 10:28 PM – 5:34 AM · radiant 49° up · about 60 an hour
Nice3–4 Jan · 11:47 PM – 5:30 AM · radiant 44° up · about 55 an hour
Oslo3–4 Jan · 6:08 PM – 6:34 AM · radiant 52° up · about 63 an hour
Paris3–4 Jan · 10:51 PM – 6:16 AM · radiant 44° up · about 55 an hour
Porto3–4 Jan · 12:16 – 5:26 AM · radiant 43° up · about 45 an hour
Prague3–4 Jan · 9:29 PM – 5:33 AM · radiant 51° up · about 62 an hour
Reykjavík3–4 Jan · 7:09 PM – 7:54 AM · radiant 40° up · about 51 an hour
Rome3–4 Jan · 11:45 PM – 5:01 AM · radiant 46° up · about 58 an hour
Stockholm3–4 Jan · 5:40 PM – 6:03 AM · radiant 56° up · about 66 an hour
Venice3–4 Jan · 11:07 PM – 5:17 AM · radiant 48° up · about 59 an hour
Vienna3–4 Jan · 10:08 PM – 5:14 AM · radiant 52° up · about 63 an hour
Warsaw3–4 Jan · 5:41 PM – 5:19 AM · radiant 56° up · about 66 an hour
Zürich3–4 Jan · 10:54 PM – 5:42 AM · radiant 47° up · about 58 an hour
Africa
Cairo3–4 Jan · 12:56 – 4:03 AM · radiant 38° up · about 39 an hour
Cape Town3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Lagos3–4 Jan · 3:43 – 4:05 AM · radiant 13° up · about 18 an hour
Marrakesh3–4 Jan · 2:24 – 5:51 AM · radiant 41° up · about 41 an hour
Nairobi3–4 Jan · 4:06 – 5:16 AM · radiant 20° up · about 23 an hour · moon up
Asia
Bali3–4 Jan · 4:30 – 4:48 AM · radiant 12° up · about 5 an hour · moon up
Bangkok3–4 Jan · 2:41 – 3:37 AM · radiant 18° up · about 8 an hour
Beijing3–4 Jan · 12:07 – 4:40 AM · radiant 47° up · about 18 an hour
Bengaluru3–4 Jan · 2:47 – 3:40 AM · radiant 18° up · about 10 an hour
Delhi3–4 Jan · 1:30 – 4:18 AM · radiant 36° up · about 21 an hour
Hong Kong3–4 Jan · 2:06 – 3:59 AM · radiant 28° up · about 10 an hour
Kyoto3–4 Jan · 12:27 – 4:03 AM · radiant 41° up · about 12 an hour
Mumbai3–4 Jan · 2:37 – 4:13 AM · radiant 25° up · about 15 an hour
Osaka3–4 Jan · 12:30 – 4:03 AM · radiant 40° up · about 12 an hour
Seoul3–4 Jan · 12:43 – 4:47 AM · radiant 44° up · about 15 an hour
Shanghai3–4 Jan · 12:48 – 3:51 AM · radiant 37° up · about 13 an hour
Singapore3–4 Jan · 4:25 – 5:53 AM · radiant 23° up · about 12 an hour · moon up
Taipei3–4 Jan · 1:22 – 3:35 AM · radiant 30° up · about 10 an hour
Tel Aviv3–4 Jan · 12:30 – 3:54 AM · radiant 41° up · about 40 an hour
Tokyo3–4 Jan · 12:06 – 3:48 AM · radiant 41° up · about 12 an hour
Oceania
Auckland4–5 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Brisbane4–5 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Honolulu3–4 Jan · 2:19 – 4:46 AM · radiant 33° up · about 6 an hour
Melbourne4–5 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Perth3–4 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
Sydney4–5 Jan · No dark sky with the radiant up
How it is worked out
The showerThe International Meteor Organization puts the Quadrantids’ rate at 80 an hour at the peak, for a radiant overhead under a perfectly dark sky. The rate here falls away on either side of the peak as the organization’s profile does.
The nightThe peak is an instant, 2027-01-04 03:22 UTC this time. Each place’s night is the one, of the three around it, whose best hour shows the most meteors.
The radiantThe radiant is the point the meteors seem to come from, in Boötes, at +49° of declination. The higher it stands, the more meteors reach your sky: the rate here is the shower’s times the sine of its height.
The dark and the moonDark is the sun 18° below the horizon. The moon’s light hides the fainter meteors, so the hours to watch are the dark ones after it sets, read through the night to the minute.
Your own skyThe rates are for a dark site with a clear sky. Street lights hide most meteors, so a town shows far fewer, and cloud shows none.
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