Meteor showers Geminids
Geminids
The most dependable shower of the year
The year’s richest shower, and the one whose parent is an asteroid.
- Active period
- 4 December to 20 December
- Usual maximum
- Around 14 December
- ZHR under ideal skies
- About 150
01 / Overview
Meet Geminids
The Geminids peak around 14 December at more than a hundred meteors an hour under ideal skies — the richest and steadiest shower of the year. The radiant is already up in the evening, so the whole night is usable, and at about 35 km/s the meteors are on the slow side, the brighter ones often yellow-white.
A shower from an asteroid
Most showers come from comets; this one comes from asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Its perihelion lies just 0.14 AU from the Sun, where heating cracks the surface and throws off dust — behaviour halfway between an asteroid and a comet. The stream is still thickening, and the Geminids have grown stronger over the past century.
A good shower to start with
The radiant rises in the evening, rates are high and the meteors are slow, so even the edge of a city shows the brighter ones. The only price is December cold: a reclining chair and enough warm clothing beat any instrument.
02 / Key data
Core parameters
- Active period
- 4 December to 20 December
- Usual maximum
- Around 14 December
- ZHR under ideal skies
- About 150
- Parent body
- Asteroid 3200 Phaethon
- Recurrence
- Mid-December, every year
Data and calculation notes
Active periods, peak dates and rates are multi-year averages; each year differs a little, so plan against the forecast issued for the year in question.
03 / Observing tips
How to watch
- The radiant is already up in the evening; there is no need to wait for the small hours.
- The meteors are slow with long trails, which suits fixed-camera nightscape shots.
- Lie back and take in the sky near the zenith; that view catches more than chasing the radiant.
04 / Sources