The Quadrantids from Hawaiʻi
When the Quadrantids peak this year from Hawaiʻi, how high the radiant climbs at 19.8°N, and what the moon does to the night.
The 2027 peak night, computed for Hawaiʻi
Saturday, January 2
Best around 5:33 AM HST, when the radiant tops out about 41° up.
The maximum itself lands about 3 hours after the sky gets light here. What Hawaiʻi gets is the hours building up to it.
The moon is 14% lit that night. Out of the way, the sky stays dark.
Planning further out: the next peak lands Jan 3, 2028, with the moon 40% lit. After that, the next peak with the moon this far out of the way is Jan 2, 2030, at 1% lit.
✉️ Sky-event email alerts
Next up: The Geminids peak, December 13. We send one email about three days before it, with the sky forecast from up on the mountain, and the same for the handful of other showers a year worth the drive. Nothing else, and one click to stop.
What you'll actually see
Medium-speed, with a good share of bright blue-white meteors. The stream is unusually narrow, which gives the Quadrantids their defining quirk: a peak only about six hours wide. Miss the window and the night is ordinary.
Debris from 2003 EH1, an asteroid that is probably an extinct comet, named for a constellation that no longer exists (Quadrans Muralis, retired in 1922).
Entry speed: about 41 km/s.
When it runs
Active from late December to mid-January, but with that six-hour spike doing nearly all the work, timing matters more than for any other shower.
From 19.8°N
The radiant sits at +50° declination, so from 19.8°N it spends most of the night low and only climbs in the final hours before dawn. For a Quadrantid year to work here, that narrow peak has to land in exactly those hours. When it does, it is a real show; most years, the geometry quietly says no.
Making the night work
The technique is the same for every shower: dark spot, no telescope, eyes adapted, radiant up. The rules live on the calendar page.
Tours & booking
No 4WD, or want it handled?
Summit tours from Kona, Waikoloa and Hilo bundle the 4WD, parkas, dinner and a telescope, typically $150 to $330 a person.
Tour or drive yourself? The honest comparison
Tour links are affiliate links to Viator; we may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Peak instants and radiant heights computed by this site from solar longitude with astronomy-engine; stream facts from the American Meteor Society and IMO shower notes. Independent project, affiliated with no observatory or agency.