Geminids
Active 12-04 – 12-17; peaks ~2026-12-14.
- Typical peak
- 2026-12-14
- ZHR
- 150
- Radiant
- Gemini
- Active period
- 12-04 → 12-17
Moon at peak (2026-12-14)
Waxing Crescent · 21% illuminated.
Good — a thin crescent has only modest impact on visibility.
Observing tips
- Best viewed from a dark site with no moonlight after midnight, when the radiant in Geminiclimbs higher and Earth's orbital motion sweeps the leading edge through the meteor stream.
- Lie flat looking ~50° from the radiant — meteors with longer tails appear at this angle than directly at the radiant point.
- ZHR 150is a theoretical maximum: clear sky, radiant overhead, no light pollution. Real-world rates at most observers' latitudes are typically 30-60% of ZHR.
- Allow your eyes 20+ minutes to adapt to darkness; avoid looking at phone screens during the session.
What is ZHR?
Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) is the number of meteors a single observer would see in one hour under perfect conditions: a moonless, cloudless sky with the radiant directly overhead and a limiting magnitude of +6.5. It is a normalisation, not a forecast. Observers at lower radiant altitude or under any light pollution will see substantially fewer meteors than the published ZHR suggests.
Other showers active near this peak
- Ursids · peaks 12/22, ZHR 10
Source: Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA). Moon phase computed locally via astronomy-engine.