Geminid meteor shower to peak this week with 150 shooting stars per hour – when to see it

The spectacular Geminid meteor shower is set to reach its peak in the coming days – bringing the chance to glimpse a shooting star.

Every year, mid-December provides the opportunity to see the unique display – which is one of the most active showers of the year, with a peak rate of up to 150 meteors per hour. In 2024, the Geminid meteor shower will be active between 4 and 20 December and will peak on Saturday 14 to Sunday December 15.

This year the peak coincides with a full moon, however, so viewing conditions will not be favourable. For the best conditions, it is best to find a safe location away from street lights and other sources of light pollution.

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The meteors can be seen in all parts of the sky, so it is best to go to a wide open space where the night sky can be scanned. However, if you trace the paths the meteors take, they seem to originate from near the bright star Castor in the constellation of Gemini.

The advice is to not look directly at the radiant – the point in the night sky where meteors appear to originate from in a shower – as this can limit the number you see. Instead, try to look just to the side in a dark area of sky.

The meteors can be seen with the naked eye so there is no need for binoculars or a telescope, though you will need to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark. And you will probably need a comfy chair and to be wrapped up warm – as meteor hunting is a waiting game.

Meteors are pieces of debris that enter Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per second, vaporising and causing streaks of light we recognise as shooting stars.

The meteors of the Geminid shower are bright, fast, and unusual in that they are multi-coloured – mainly white, some yellow and a few green, red and blue. These colours are explained by the presence of metals like sodium and calcium, which are used to make fireworks colourful.

However, while most meteor showers originate from comets – large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the Sun – Geminids are leftover bits of the asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon. Unlike comets, asteroids – small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun – do not develop tails when approaching the Sun, and their composition is different.

But scientists are still debating if Phaethon is even an asteroid, with some thinking it could be a completely new class of celestial object – a rock comet.