A shower with a razor-thin peak
Most showers rise and fade over days. The Quadrantids are the exception: the best rates last only a few hours, because Earth cuts across a narrow, dense filament of the stream. Miss the window by half a day and you may see only a handful of meteors.
That makes the peak time in the table the key number. Since it falls at a particular hour of a particular night, the shower looks wonderful in some years and dull in others, depending on whether your side of the Earth is facing the right way at that moment.
A shower named after a constellation that no longer exists
The radiant lies in the modern constellation of Boötes, near the end of the Big Dipper's handle. In the 1800s that patch belonged to Quadrans Muralis, the Mural Quadrant, an instrument-shaped constellation that astronomers later dropped. The shower kept the old name.
The source is unusual, too. Instead of a comet, the parent seems to be the asteroid 2003 EH1, possibly a burnt-out comet nucleus. It was found only in 2003, and it circles the Sun about every five and a half years. A young, compact stream helps explain the dense, narrow trail.
Winter watching
- Plan for the early hours. The radiant climbs high in the northern sky only after midnight.
- Go north. From the southern hemisphere the radiant never rises high enough to matter.
- Dress for the cold. In January you will lie still for an hour or more, so use layers, a sleeping bag and a mat against the ground.
- Check the Moon. The shower is so brief that a bright Moon at the wrong moment ruins the whole year.
What it feels like
Quadrantid meteors are often bright, medium-speed, and sometimes blue-tinted. Fireballs turn up now and then. With a clear sky and good timing it can feel as busy as the Perseids, in far colder air. The shower was first described in the 1830s, which is recent next to the Lyrids. To compare it with the milder spring showers, browse the other showers on the meteor showers hub.
Questions people ask
Why are the Quadrantids so short-lived?
Earth passes through a thin, dense part of the stream, so the best rates last for only a few hours.
Can I see them from the southern hemisphere?
Hardly. The radiant stays very low or below the horizon, so this is a northern shower.
Is the name a mistake?
No. It honours the retired constellation Quadrans Muralis, which once covered the radiant.