Peaks December 13–14
Next peak: December 14, 2026 · up to ~150 meteors/hour from Gemini.
Widely regarded as the best shower of the year: up to 120–150 slow, graceful, often multicoloured meteors per hour at peak. Unusually, its parent is not a comet but the rock-comet asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The radiant rises in the early evening, so the Geminids can be watched all night.
Because the radiant is up by mid-evening, you don't need to wait until dawn. Bundle up against December cold, find a dark sky, and the Geminids deliver more meteors than any other shower.
You don't need a telescope or binoculars — meteor showers are best enjoyed with the naked eye and the widest view of the sky you can find. Get well away from city lights, give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adapt to the dark, dress warmly, and look up. The meteors can appear anywhere; they only trace back to the radiant in Gemini.
The meteors streak out from the constellation Gemini — find it, and you've found the radiant.