The Geminids for Kids
Next peak · 44 nights to go
Night of 13–14 December 2026 · Moon 22% · Great
Worth staying up for, if the sky is clear.
From 9 pm you might count one every few minutes; by midnight, near one a minute if the sky is clear and dark.
The next Geminids peak is the night of 13–14 December 2026. A 22% Moon that sets before midnight, so the late hours are dark. Verdict: great. Worth staying up for, if the sky is clear. At best a dark sky gives about 150 an hour, by the American Meteor Society's calendar; the Moon is from astronomy-engine.
The Geminids are the best shooting stars of the year. Bits of dust zip into the air and glow. Lie on a blanket, look up and count them with a grown-up.
Every December, Earth drives through a trail of grit left by a rocky object called Phaethon. Each bit is about the size of a sand grain. It hits our air so fast that it heats up and glows as a streak for a second. That streak is a meteor, or shooting star.
Most showers come from comets, but the Geminids come from 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid that may be an old, dried-out comet. The grains hit the air at about 35 kilometers a second and burn up 70 to 100 kilometers above the ground. Because the stream is dense, the Geminids are one of the two richest showers each year, and they start well before midnight.
Geminids are slower than most shooting stars, so they look like they glide, and some are yellow or green.
Which way to look, and when
Anywhere in the sky. The streaks point back to Gemini, which is low in the east at 9 pm and high in the south by 2 am.
Best from about 10 pm to 3 am, darkest after midnight. Active 4 to 20 December.
Where does it come from?
The Geminids are dust from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The bits hit the air at about 35 kilometers a second and glow as they burn up. The streaks seem to start from Gemini, which is how the shower got its name.
Every peak in our table
| Night of 13–14 December 2026 | Great. A 22% Moon that sets before midnight, so the late hours are dark. |
|---|---|
| Night of 13–14 December 2027 | Good. A bright 100% Moon up for much of the night washes out the faint ones. |
Some calendars give a peak one night either side; a shower is active for days around it, so the nights next to the peak are worth a look too.
How to watch
- Go out with a grown-up, dressed warmer than you think, with a blanket or a reclining chair.
- Put phones away and give your eyes twenty minutes to get used to the dark.
- Look up at the whole sky, not at one spot, and count every streak you see.
The shower night kit
One sheet to take outside: a box for every ten minutes, a line for the brightest one, and a tick for the clouds. Counting is the game.
The Geminids: my shower night
Peak: the night of 13–14 December 2026. Look up at the whole sky. The streaks point back to Gemini. peabody.kids/space/showers/geminids
☐ Warm coat and hat ☐ Blanket or chair ☐ Grown-up ☐ Phones away for 20 minutes
| Ten minutes from | Shooting stars I counted (|||| ||) |
|---|---|
| ____ : ____ | |
| ____ : ____ | |
| ____ : ____ | |
| ____ : ____ | |
| ____ : ____ | |
| ____ : ____ |
The brightest one went from ________________ to ________________.
Clouds? ☐ none ☐ some ☐ lots · My total: ______
If the sky is clear. Peak night and rate: American Meteor Society; the Moon: astronomy-engine.
Other showers
“The Geminids are my favourite night of the year. I'm an owl, so I'm up anyway.”