In December 2026 the Geminids are best watched on two consecutive nights, 13–14 and 14–15 December, starting in the evening. The peak falls in daylight on 14 December, and this shower’s maximum is broad, so both nights are almost equally good. The Moon on those dates is a thin crescent that sets early and hardly gets in the way. One serious obstacle remains: winter cloud, which meant that even in southern Europe far from every peak night was clear.
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The 2026 Moon versus the 2027 Moon
First, the main advantage. At the maximum on 14 December 2026, at 13:49 UTC (14:49 Central European winter time, 13:49 in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Portugal), the Moon is 25% lit. That is a waxing crescent which sets in the early evening, so nearly the whole long winter night stays dark.
A year later the picture reverses: the maximum on 14 December 2027 at 20:02 UTC falls on a Moon that is 98% lit, close to full. Faint meteors will vanish in its light. Anyone who puts the Geminids off until the following winter loses most of the shower.
From what time, and in which direction to look
The shower runs from 4 to 20 December, and a ZHR of 100 or more holds for about 10–12 hours around the peak (per IMO). The radiant lies near the star Castor in Gemini (RA 112°, Dec +33°). In the northern hemisphere it rises around sunset, is already high in the east by 22.00, and stands high in the south around 02.00. With the Perseids the radiant is still low in the evening; with the Geminids you can catch the first meteors straight after dinner.
Moonless dark hours with the Sun below −12° at Europe’s best sites run 7.8–9.0: 9.0 in Mercantour National Park in France, 7.8 in Garajonay National Park on La Gomera, where the radiant climbs to 85°. There is enough time; the problem is the cold: several hours spent lying motionless in December call for warm clothes and a sleeping bag.
Where skies are clearer in mid-December
The chances on this page describe past nights from 2006–2025 based on the ERA5 reanalysis and are not a weather forecast; check the actual forecast a couple of days ahead.
Winter cloud cuts the odds across Europe. The continent’s best spot, Garajonay on the Canary Islands, gives 75% / 73%, noticeably below the summer figures for the Perseids. Mercantour 57% / 57%, Pantelleria National Park in Italy 55% / 60%. Further north it is 15–40% almost everywhere: Winklmoos-Alm in Germany 38% / 28%, Peneda-Gerês National Park in Portugal 32% / 35%, Lauwersmeer National Park in the Netherlands 27% / 27%, The Broads in the United Kingdom 25% / 30%.
An example of how this plays out: an observer in Bavaria looks at Winklmoos-Alm and sees 38% for the first night and 28% for the second. They keep both dates free and decide on the cloud forecast the day before. If cloud is forecast for both nights, they cancel the trip: with 38% / 28% that is the expected outcome.
How many meteors to expect
The Geminids’ ZHR is 150: that is how many meteors per hour a single observer would see under a perfectly dark sky with the radiant at the zenith. The real count is lower. Meteors of this shower hit the atmosphere at 35 km/s, slower than most showers, so the trails are long and bright, and fireballs turn up fairly often. The shower’s parent, asteroid 3200 Phaethon, makes the Geminids one of the few showers produced by an asteroid; NASA suggests that Phaethon may be a “rock comet”. The schedule of the other showers of 2026–2027 is on the meteor showers page.
Frequently asked questions
Can you see the Geminids from a city?
Only the brightest meteors and fireballs. Light pollution wipes out the faint ones, so there are many times more of them outside town.
Do you need binoculars?
No. Meteors fly across the whole sky, so watch with the naked eye, taking in as much sky as possible (NASA).
The 2026 Geminids in five lines
- Nights of 13–14 and 14–15 December 2026, peak on 14 December at 13:49 UTC.
- You can start in the evening: the radiant in Gemini is high in the east by 22.00, in the south around 02.00.
- Moon lit 25%, a thin crescent that sets early; in 2027, at 98%, conditions are far worse.
- Dark hours 7.8–9.0, but clear at Europe’s best spot three nights out of four, and 15–40% in the north.
- ZHR 150, meteors slow and bright, the shower’s source is the asteroid Phaethon.