12/12/2025
Time lapse photograph showing the Geminids over a one hour period. Image courtesy NASA.
Geminid Meteors to Provide Excellent Sky Show-Again!
The Geminid meteor shower is an annual meteor shower that is extremely regular in its timing and can potentially be visible for days in the late-autumn sky, depending on weather and location. The Geminid meteor shower is named after the constellation Gemini, which is located in roughly the same point of the night sky where the Geminid meteor shower appears to originate from. In late autumn or early winter, that means viewing the spectacular light show with eyes pointed straight up in the night sky.
Geminids are pieces of debris from 3200 Phaethon, basically a rocky skeleton of a comet that lost most of its outer covering of ice after too many close encounters with the sun. Each December, Earth passes through the debris cloud left by the comet as sand-sized specks enter the earth's atmosphere producing a spectacular show of "falling stars."
When and where to look for Geminids 2025
The peak nights of the 2025 Geminid meteor shower are expected to be on December 13-14 (night of December 13 till dawn December 14). Geminid meteors tend to be few and far between at early evening, but intensify in number as evening deepens into late night.
Look straight up later in the wee morning hours) to watch for the brightest meteors speeding by at 140 meteors an hour in the final major meteor shower of the year.
In North America, Canada and US East Coast residents will have the best viewing that night into the early hours on the 14th, but as Geminids are a "long tail" event, expect additional views growing less spectacular several days or nights before and after the peak. While the Geminids have been comparatively a non-event in the last century, they have grown more spectacular in the recent past and this year is predicted to be no exception.
As long as you’re out before 3 am, the waning crescent moon shouldn’t present too much of a problem seeing the meteors.
Tips for watching:
Dress warmly, in layers, and include a hat and gloves, if possible.
Bring a hot non-alcoholic beverage with you (consuming alcohol interferes with your body's heating mechanism, I’ve been told).
Plan on observing for at least 30 minutes. The pupils of your eyes dilate to let more light in slowly. This is the primary reason I don’t do the night sky tour with planetarium attendees until they’ve been in the darkened space for at least 15 minutes. You’ll catch some of the dimmer ones.
The weather can be ugly this time of year, however, predictions indicate clear skies and temperatures in the low 40’s.
Go out there with other people! Meteor watching should be a team sport. It’s also an awesome event to do as a family.
