Meteor showers · 2027
Quadrantids 2027: when and where to look
The best night for the Quadrantids in 2027 is Jan 3-4. At the peak, expect up to 60 meteors an hour from a dark place, and about 20 from a city or a bright suburb.
The Moon is a crescent (12% lit) that only rises shortly before dawn, so the sky stays dark. A good year.
A short, sharp peak that lasts only a few hours, so timing matters more than for any other shower. Medium speed, with some bright ones.
From your city
The best night and time, which way to look, and how many to expect where you are.
or pick a place:
The best time from these cities
| City | Best night | Best time | Radiant | Dark place | City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai, CN | Jan 3-4 | 5:23 AM GMT+8 | 53° northeast | 10 | 4 | Jan 3-4 · 5:23 AM GMT+8 · 53° northeast · 10 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Beijing, CN | Jan 3-4 | 5:51 AM GMT+8 | 59° northeast | 15 | 6 | Jan 3-4 · 5:51 AM GMT+8 · 59° northeast · 15 an hour dark, 6 in a city |
| Delhi, IN | Jan 3-4 | 5:46 AM GMT+5:30 | 50° northeast | 25 | 10 | Jan 3-4 · 5:46 AM GMT+5:30 · 50° northeast · 25 an hour dark, 10 in a city |
| Istanbul, TR | Jan 3-4 | 6:37 AM GMT+3 | 59° northeast | 40 | 15 | Jan 3-4 · 6:37 AM GMT+3 · 59° northeast · 40 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Lagos, NG | Jan 3-4 | 5:33 AM GMT+1 | 28° northeast | 20 | 8 | Jan 3-4 · 5:33 AM GMT+1 · 28° northeast · 20 an hour dark, 8 in a city |
| Karachi, Sindh, PK | Jan 3-4 | 5:45 AM GMT+5 | 46° northeast | 25 | 10 | Jan 3-4 · 5:45 AM GMT+5 · 46° northeast · 25 an hour dark, 10 in a city |
| Tokyo, JP | Jan 3-4 | 5:19 AM GMT+9 | 57° northeast | 8 | 3 | Jan 3-4 · 5:19 AM GMT+9 · 57° northeast · 8 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Moscow, RU | Jan 3-4 | 6:29 AM GMT+3 | 67° east | 50 | 15 | Jan 3-4 · 6:29 AM GMT+3 · 67° east · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra, IN | Jan 3-4 | 5:53 AM GMT+5:30 | 42° northeast | 20 | 8 | Jan 3-4 · 5:53 AM GMT+5:30 · 42° northeast · 20 an hour dark, 8 in a city |
| São Paulo, BR | Boötes stays too low | Boötes stays too low | ||||
| Jakarta, ID | Jan 3-4 | 4:21 AM GMT+7 | 15° northeast | 4 | 1 | Jan 3-4 · 4:21 AM GMT+7 · 15° northeast · 4 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Cairo, EG | Jan 3-4 | 5:17 AM GMT+2 | 51° northeast | 40 | 15 | Jan 3-4 · 5:17 AM GMT+2 · 51° northeast · 40 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Seoul, KR | Jan 3-4 | 6:05 AM GMT+9 | 57° northeast | 10 | 4 | Jan 3-4 · 6:05 AM GMT+9 · 57° northeast · 10 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Lima, PE | Jan 3-4 | 4:27 AM GMT-5 | 9° northeast | 3 | 1 | Jan 3-4 · 4:27 AM GMT-5 · 9° northeast · 3 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Mexico City, CDMX, MX | Jan 3-4 | 4:00 AM CST | 25° northeast | 7 | 2 | Jan 3-4 · 4:00 AM CST · 25° northeast · 7 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, VN | Jan 3-4 | 4:53 AM GMT+7 | 33° northeast | 10 | 4 | Jan 3-4 · 4:53 AM GMT+7 · 33° northeast · 10 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| London, England, GB | Jan 3-4 | 5:04 AM GMT | 59° east | 40 | 15 | Jan 3-4 · 5:04 AM GMT · 59° east · 40 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Dhaka, BD | Jan 3-4 | 5:13 AM GMT+6 | 45° northeast | 20 | 7 | Jan 3-4 · 5:13 AM GMT+6 · 45° northeast · 20 an hour dark, 7 in a city |
| Bengaluru, Karnataka, IN | Jan 3-4 | 5:25 AM GMT+5:30 | 36° northeast | 20 | 7 | Jan 3-4 · 5:25 AM GMT+5:30 · 36° northeast · 20 an hour dark, 7 in a city |
| New York | Jan 3-4 | 2:40 AM EST | 33° northeast | 20 | 6 | Jan 3-4 · 2:40 AM EST · 33° northeast · 20 an hour dark, 6 in a city |
| Bangkok, TH | Jan 3-4 | 5:22 AM GMT+7 | 36° northeast | 10 | 4 | Jan 3-4 · 5:22 AM GMT+7 · 36° northeast · 10 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Riyadh, SA | Jan 3-4 | 5:07 AM GMT+3 | 46° northeast | 30 | 10 | Jan 3-4 · 5:07 AM GMT+3 · 46° northeast · 30 an hour dark, 10 in a city |
| Hong Kong, HK | Jan 3-4 | 5:41 AM GMT+8 | 45° northeast | 10 | 4 | Jan 3-4 · 5:41 AM GMT+8 · 45° northeast · 10 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Bogotá, CO | Jan 3-4 | 4:06 AM GMT-5 | 21° northeast | 7 | 3 | Jan 3-4 · 4:06 AM GMT-5 · 21° northeast · 7 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
Meteors an hour at the best time on the best night, for one person watching the whole sky. Times are local.
Where to look
The Quadrantids seem to fly out from the northern sky, near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, but they can appear anywhere in the sky, and the ones away from that point have longer trails. Look about halfway up, toward the darkest part of your sky.
Give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust, put your phone away (its screen resets your night vision), and lie back so you can take in as much sky as you can. No telescope or binoculars: they show too little sky.
Open Look up on the Sky Globe While the shower is on, Look up marks where they come from.
What they are
- Comes from
- Asteroid 2003 EH1, which is probably a worn-out comet
- Speed
- 41 km/s (about 92,000 mph)
- Peak rate, perfect sky
- 80 an hour (IMO)
- Active
- Dec 28 to Jan 12
Each meteor is a grain of dust, most smaller than a grain of sand, left behind by the asteroid 2003 EH1, which is probably a worn-out comet. Earth runs into that dust on the same days every year, and the grains burn up about 100 km overhead.
Saw a fireball?
A meteor brighter than Venus is a fireball. Every shower makes a few. If you saw one, or something you can't place, tell us when and where and we'll check it against the shower, satellites, rockets and planes.
The next showers
How we work this out: the peak is when the Sun reaches the shower's place along its yearly path (the International Meteor Organization's way of timing it, with their numbers for the peak rate, the radiant and the speed). For each place we follow the night in 10-minute steps and scale the rate for how high the radiant is, twilight, the Moon and city lights. It's an estimate: clouds, haze and your eyes all change it.