How to Watch the Quadrantid Meteor Shower, an Intense Spectacle With a Short but Strong Peak

Usher in 2025 by watching the Quadrantids, which astronomers consider one of the best meteor showers of the year. The Quadrantids have the potential to produce 60 to 200 meteors per hour under perfect conditions, according to NASA, but the best part of this skyward spectacle only lasts for about six hours—so you’ll have just one evening to catch the dazzling show.

This year, the Quadrantids run from December 26, 2024, to January 16, 2025, according to the American Meteor Society. But the best time for viewing them in the United States will fall in the late evening of January 2 and into the early morning hours of January 3. They’re most easily seen from the Northern Hemisphere, but visibility can be dicey because of the cloudy weather conditions that often occur in early January.

Moonlight should not interfere with viewing the Quadrantids this year, as Earth’s natural satellite will be in its waxing crescent phase and just 11 percent full, per the American Meteor Society. In addition, the moon should set before the Quadrantids become best visible.

Want to know more about the fleeting Quadrantids? Here’s a primer on this prolific but short-lived meteor shower.

Where the meteors come from

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through a trail of space debris as it orbits around the sun. This cosmic rubble—which includes bits of rock and dust—burns up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere. As it does so, it creates fiery streaks of light in the night sky that are sometimes visible from Earth’s surface.

Most meteor showers result from the debris left behind by comets. However, a handful—including the Quadrantids and, likely, the December Geminids—are caused by rocks and dust from asteroids. In the case of the Quadrantids, that asteroid is named 2003 EH1.

Asteroid 2003 EH1, which orbits the sun every 5.52 years, was identified by astronomers with the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search project in March 2003 as it made its closest approach to the sun in its orbit. The asteroid is relatively small, measuring roughly two miles across—about the same length as the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Astronomers are still investigating asteroid 2003 EH1, but they suspect it might be a “dead comet,” according to NASA.

For years, the Quadrantids were one of the major meteor showers without a known parent body, meaning astronomers debated its source. In 2004, Peter Jenniskens, a Dutch-American astronomer, was the first scientist to propose that asteroid 2003 EH1 was responsible for the annual Quadrantid meteor shower.

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Skygazers have been admiring the Quadrantids since at least 1825. They’re named after Quadrans Muralis, a “forgotten” constellation near Ursa Major that’s no longer officially recognized by astronomers. The Quadrantids are sometimes called the Bootids, which is a reference to the Boötes constellation.

The Quadrantids travel up to 91,800 miles per hour, which is somewhat slow in meteor shower terms. For comparison, the world’s fastest annual meteor shower, the Leonids, travel up to 158,400 miles per hour.

A fleeting peak

Unlike other meteor showers, which might peak across several evenings, the Quadrantids are short-lived. The reason? Asteroid 2003 EH1’s debris trail is thin, and Earth passes through it at a perpendicular angle, according to NASA. Together, these factors create a small window for rocks and dust to enter Earth’s atmosphere and streak across the sky.

This year, that exact peak is predicted to happen around 12:45 p.m. or 2 p.m. Eastern time on January 3, though the actual time might be different. So, for the very best period of the shower, which is about three hours on either side of that moment, many U.S. viewers could be out of luck due to the daylight. The shower favors the Pacific and Hawaii in 2025.

But you can still see many of the meteors from the states—the night from January 2 to 3 will offer good viewing, and about 25 meteors per hour will be visible on the days surrounding January 3.

“While the meteors are faint, there will be plenty of them for this shower, and thanks to the thin crescent moon not reflecting much sunlight, stargazers under dark skies will see up to a shooting star every minute,” Darren Baskill, an astronomer at the University of Sussex in England, tells Newsweek’s Tom Howarth.

Though the meteor shower doesn’t last long, the Quadrantids make up for their short duration by producing fireballs. Caused by bigger debris particles, fireballs tend to be brighter and longer-lasting than average meteors. The American Meteor Society keeps a log of fireball sightings, so if you see one during the Quadrantids, consider reporting it.

Tips for viewing the Quadrantid shower

To catch the Quadrantids, stay up late on the evening of January 2 or wake up before dawn on January 3. Ideally, you’d travel somewhere with little to no light pollution—such as a national park or a certified dark sky area. If that’s not an option, head to a dark place without any trees, tall buildings or other structures to block your view of the sky. If you’re in a city, “find the biggest bit of sky you can, or get up as high as you can above the rooftops,” suggests the Natural History Museum in London.

“A loft window, a rooftop, the windows of upper-story flats or a local park (especially on the outskirts of a city) can work well as vantage points,” according to the museum.

Bring a pillow and a blanket so you can lie down on the ground, or a chair that lets you recline. Avoid looking at any artificial lights for 20 to 30 minutes, including your phone, so that your eyes can fully adjust to the darkness. You don’t need any special gear or equipment to see the Quadrantids, though a few extra layers of clothing might help fend off January’s chill.

Though the Quadrantids appear to originate near the Big Dipper, experts say it’s best not to stare directly at this area, known as the radiant. Instead, let your eyes roam across the entire sky—and bring a friend so you can call out when one of you notices a shooting star or fireball.

“Try to let your gaze ‘defocus’ rather than staring intently at one spot, so you are aware of what’s happening across as much of the sky as possible,” according to the Society for Popular Astronomy. “Then stay put—don’t be tempted to change position, even if you don’t see much at first. The probability of seeing meteors is the same all over the sky.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.