Meteor shower · The night of January 3–4
Quadrantids 2028
The Quadrantids peak on the night of January 3–4, 2028, with the Moon 40% lit, which will wash out many of the faint ones. Under a perfect sky with the radiant high overhead you’d see up to about 80 meteors per hour; from a sky with some light pollution, quite a few fewer.
- Peak
- The night of January 3–4
- How many
- Up to about 80 per hour (ZHR) under a perfect sky
- Active
- December 28 to January 12
- Radiant
- In Boötes
- Speed
- 41 km/s
- Where they come from
- Dust left behind by the asteroid 2003 EH1, probably an extinct comet
- The Moon
- 40% lit at peak
- From Madrid
- The radiant is well up from 2:38 (CEST/CET). No Moon to get in the way.
From your location
Calculating…
How to watch them
You don’t need a telescope or binoculars: they’re a naked-eye show, and the more sky you take in, the better. Find a dark spot away from lights, lie back on a lounger or on the ground, wrap up warm and give your eyes about 20 minutes to adapt. Don’t look at your phone: every time you do, you start over.
Look 40 or 50° away from the radiant in Boötes, not right at it: there the meteors look short. The best hours are when the radiant is highest, usually after midnight.
How to photograph them
- Camera on a tripod, with your widest, fastest lens (14 to 24 mm, at f/2.8 or faster), in manual mode and focused at infinity on a bright star.
- ISO 1600 to 3200 and 15 to 25 s subs, as long as your lens allows before the stars start to trail (the NPF rule gives you the number).
- Shoot continuously for hours, with an intervalometer or the shutter release locked. Most frames will be empty: that’s normal.
- Spare batteries and a dew heater on the lens: in the early hours there’s almost always dew.
- Afterwards, stack the frames with meteors onto one of the sky, as layers, in Photoshop or GIMP.
Frequently asked questions
When are the Quadrantids 2028?
They’re active from December 28 to January 12, and they peak on the night of January 3–4. The nights around the peak are worth it too, with fewer meteors.
What time are they best?
When the radiant is highest and the sky is fully dark. From Madrid: The radiant is well up from 2:38 (CEST/CET). No Moon to get in the way. From anywhere else, pick your location above.
Will the Moon get in the way in 2028?
It’ll be 40% lit at peak. Yes: its light drowns out the faint meteors. Look for the Moon-free hours and keep it behind you.
Which way should I look?
The meteors come from a point in Boötes (the radiant), but they streak across the whole sky. It’s best to look 40 or 50° away from it, where they look longer, and take in as much sky as you can. The radiant is far north: from the Southern Hemisphere you’ll hardly see them.
Calculated with Astronomy Engine (MIT) for the center of each city. Meteor showers: data from the International Meteor Organization. It doesn’t take your horizon or the clouds into account. Times in 24-hour format: UT is Universal Time; Spanish time is CET in winter (UT+1) and CEST in summer (UT+2).