Meteor shower
Quadrantids
Poor from New Zealand
A brief, sharp northern-hemisphere shower with one of the highest peak rates of the year — and one of the shortest peaks, only a few hours wide.
Computed from standard astronomical algorithms · Shower parameters: IMO working list of visual meteor showers · Reviewed Oct 2026 · Method
From New Zealand
The radiant sits at +49° declination — far into the northern sky — so from New Zealand it barely rises, and only in the hours before dawn from the far north. The famous 110-per-hour rate is a northern number. Expect a handful at best.
How much the Moon will spoil it
A bright Moon washes out everything but the brightest meteors, and it is the difference between a good night and a wasted one more often than cloud is. Computed for the peak:
| Year | Moon at peak | Phase | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 100% lit | Full moon | Badly moonlit |
| 2027 | 17% lit | Waning crescent | Dark — good |
How to watch
Get away from town lights, give your eyes 20 minutes to adapt, and do not look at your phone. Lie back and take in as much sky as you can rather than staring at the radiant — meteors near the radiant are foreshortened and look shorter than they are.
The quoted 110 per hour is a zenithal hourly rate: what a single observer would count under a perfect dark sky with the radiant directly overhead. Nobody ever sees that. A realistic dark-sky count from New Zealand is a fraction of it, and from a suburb, a fraction of that. Dark sky notes apply here too.