One of the best meteor showers of the year peaks at the worst possible time this week
A daylight peak and a full moon combine to sabotage the powerful Quadrantid meteor shower in 2026.
Quadrantids captured above a lake in Thailand in 2022. (Image credit: dreamedmstudio/Getty Images)
Early each January, the Quadrantid meteor stream provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum that lasts only a few hours.
The meteors of this first shower of the year radiate from the northeast corner of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, so we might expect them to be called the "Boötids." But back in the late-18th century, there was a constellation here called Quadrans Muralis, the "Mural or Wall Quadrant" (an astronomical instrument). It is one of the many constellation names that have fallen into disuse. Thus, the meteors were christened "Quadrantids" and even though the constellation from which these meteors appear to radiate no longer exists, the shower's original moniker continues to this day.
Crumbs of a dead comet?
At peak activity, 60 to 120 Quadrantid meteors per hour can be seen under ideal conditions. However, the influx is sharply peaked: just six hours before and after maximum, these blue meteors appear at only half of their highest rates. This suggests that the stream of particles is relatively narrow — possibly derived fairly recently from a small comet.
In fact, in 2003, astronomer Peter Jenniskens of NASA, found a near-Earth asteroid (2003 EH1), whose orbit closely matches that of the Quadrantid stream. Some astronomers suspect that this asteroid is actually a fragment of an old, "extinct" comet; perhaps the same comet that was recorded by Chinese, Korean, and Japanese observers during the years 1490-91. If so, that comet may have broken apart, with some of its debris becoming the meteoroids that now produce the Quadrantids.
2026: A poor year
The full moon on Jan. 3 will hinder Quadrantid meteor shower hunting efforts this year. (Image credit: Robert_Ford/Getty Images)
Unfortunately, 2026 will not be a good year to look for the "Quads." Chalk it up to poor timing.
First, the peak of this year's shower, according to Margaret Campbell-Brown and Peter Brown in the 2026 Observer's Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, is predicted for 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 3. That places the maximum during daylight hours for much of North America. But even if the peak were to occur at night, there is an even greater problem.
