Overview
- The annual shower reaches maximum activity overnight Dec. 13–14, with the best viewing from late evening into the pre-dawn hours when Gemini is high.
- Under dark, clear skies, forecasts from NASA and meteor groups suggest roughly 100–120 meteors per hour, with lower counts in cities or under cloud cover.
- Northern Hemisphere observers are favored, but the display is visible worldwide; local forecasts note potential clouds in parts of the UK, Ireland and southeast Texas.
- Livestreams will offer access for urban or cloudy locations, including a real-time feed from Gianluca Masi’s Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, with possible additional streams from NASA or the IMO.
- No equipment is needed: find a dark site, avoid screens, give eyes 15–30 minutes to adapt, and watch for early evening “earthgrazers” and occasional fireballs from debris of asteroid 3200 Phaethon.