The Geminid meteor shower, one of the brightest and most prolific meteor showers of the year, peaks overnight on December 13 and 14. As the winter nights grow longer and colder, the celestial phenomenon is just the excuse we needed to bundle up and get outside.
But this year, an almost full moon will compete with the annual spectacle of shooting stars. Called the “Cold Moon” or “Long Night Moon,” December’s full moon inconveniently falls on the 15th of the month—meaning the bright light will make it harder to see the Geminids, and making it all the more important to plan ahead and find a slice of darkness near you.
With an unobscured dark sky, you could typically see between 100 and 120 shooting stars per hour as Earth passes through the densest part of the Geminids debris trail. While visibility becomes more difficult with city lights or a full moon, you can still expect to see 10 to 20 per hour this year.
“The Perseids produce the most fireballs of all meteor showers, but the Geminids are number two,” says Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office. “Perseid fireballs are described as yellowish or whitish in nature, the Geminid fireballs appear greenish in color [to make them] a little bit different than your standard white shooting star.”
What’s special about the Geminid meteor shower
The greenish color isn’t the only thing that makes the Geminid meteor shower different from others. There are three main reasons why it’s unique: “The Geminid is the strongest annual meteor shower,” explains Cooke. “No other meteor shower can have the rates of the Geminids.”
“Number two, the Geminids come from an asteroid, not a comet. Geminids come from asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Third, the Geminids are one of only two meteor showers, the other being the Taurid, that have a chance of producing a meteorite on the ground,” he adds.
That hasn’t happened yet—and the odds of a Geminid meteor hitting earth are low. But there’s plenty of action to be seen in the skies: Geminids typically burn up between 40 and 50 miles above our heads.
When and how to see the Geminid meteor shower
The Geminids will be visible almost all night on December 13 and 14 from around 7 p.m. to dawn, but the best rates occur between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., Cooke says. The darker and more cloud-free the sky is, the easier it will be to see the dozens of the shooting stars on display. This year, be sure to look away from the moon.