The Most Amazing Quadrantid Meteor Shower Photos

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower!

The Quadrantid meteor shower is always the first display of the year, peaking between Jan. 2 and 4, and can be a dazzling one to behold for lucky stargazers. See the best Quadrantid meteor photos by our readers and more over the years here! This Photo: Astrophotographer Jeff Berkes took this photo Jan. 4, 2012 from the Florida Keys, capturing meteors and the ethereal zodiacal light.

A Slowpoke Quadrantid

The image shows the meteor's path captured by an allsky color camera, also located at the Marshall Center.

Star Streaks and a Meteor

This long-exposure photo by Roberto Porto shows the bright arcs of star trails and a bright Quadrantid meteor in the predawn sky over Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands during the 2012 shower.

Suspected Quadrantid

Brian Emfinger took this photograph of a possible Quadrantid meteor on Jan. 2, 2012, in Ozark, Arkansas. He referred to this image as a "cropped star trail stack."

Off the Florida Keys

Astrophotographer Jeff Berkes took this photo of the Quadrantid meteor shower on Jan. 4, 2012.

In False Color

False-color image of a rare early Quadrantid, captured by a NASA meteor camera in 2010.

Quadrantid Meteor Over Ohio

Astrophotographer John Chumack sent in his photo of a Quadrantid meteor taken over his house in Dayton, OH, on Dec. 31, 2012.

A Bright Streak

Brian Emfinger took this photograph on Jan. 2, 2012, in Ozark, Arkansas. He said: "The radiant is very, very close to the Quadrantid but I'm not 100% sure it is indeed a Quadrantid."

Quadrantid Over Maurice River, NJ

Astrophotographer Jack Fusco caught the Quadrantid meteor shower in Maurice River, NJ, at the East Point Lighthouse, January 2012. He says this image consists of "a total of 509 frames stacked to create star trails showing the meteors through the trails. The trails were taken from 3 am until just after 6 am which accounts for the early twilight light in the right side of the frame."

Meteors Over Tucson

Astrophotographer Sean Parker produced this image of Quandrantid meteors over Tucson, AZ, on Jan. 3, 2013. He writes: "The boneyard [aircraft graveyard] is run by the [Davis-Monthan] Air Force base which requires clearance, and is surrounded by 10-foot barbed wire fences. But fortunately I have a Jeep and a tall tripod – so I drove around numerous spots looking for a place I could pull … close to the fence and take pictures from on top. And I found one."

Quadrantid in Connecticut

Astrophotographer Scott Tully sends us a shot of a Quadrantid meteor taken over the northwest hills of Connecticut on January 3, 2012.