How to see the Geminid meteor shower as it reaches its peak

Mid-December every year brings us the chance to see plenty of shooting stars as the spectacular and unique Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak.

The meteors associated with the Geminids are some of the brightest and most abundant in the skies.

This year they will be visible from 4 until 20 December, but the peak is between Friday 13 and Sunday 14 (depending on your time zone), and specifically the early hours of Saturday in the UK.

Whilst most meteor showers are associated with comets, the Geminids are very different, because they are caused by debris from an asteroid.

As the particles enter our atmosphere, at speeds to up to 150,000mph (241,000km/h) they vaporise, creating the streaks of light that we see in the night sky.

What is particularly special about the Geminids is that they can appear as multi-coloured streaks of white, yellow, green, red and blue. This is due to elements such as sodium and calcium found within the celestial debris.

They were first observed in 1862 and according to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich they are thought to be intensifying every year.

The good news is that these meteors will be visible to the naked eye. You do not need any specialist equipment such as telescopes or binoculars.

All you need is some warm clothing, a camping chair or blanket and a good bit of patience to let your eyes adjust to the dark - and perhaps a flask of hot chocolate if you are planning on being outside for a while. Try to find somewhere away from buildings and light pollution with a clear view of the sky.

Shyam Balaji, researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King's College London, says: "The best time to view the Geminid meteor shower is around 2am local time. However, you can start watching from mid-evening onwards."

You can see the shooting stars across a large area of night sky but he recommends looking towards the constellation Gemini because the radiant - the point in the sky where most of the meteors will appear to originate from - is near its bright star Castor.

The Geminids can produce up to 150 meteors every hour but you are unlikely to see quite this many, as moonlight will hide some of the fainter ones. The Moon will be full on the Sunday, so the night sky will be particularly light around the peak.

For an uninterrupted view of the night sky we need clear conditions with little cloud cover. However, the forecast for the end of this week is looking a little mixed.

The weather thankfully, will be much quieter than last weekend when we saw Storm Darragh bringing widespread disruption. High pressure is expected to sit to the south-east of the UK, whilst weather fronts move in from the north-west.

On Friday night north-western parts of the UK, especially Northern Ireland and Scotland, are likely to see some outbreaks of rain, probably easing away later in the night to leave some clearer spells.

For England and Wales however most places are likely to have a lot of cloud or even some fog, a little drizzle is possible too, with very limited glimpses of the night sky.

By Saturday night it will be cloudier in the north and west, but there is a chance of some clearer intervals at times in the south and east.

Do check the forecast as details of potential viewing conditions may change a little.

If you are not lucky enough to have the best conditions for viewing the Geminids at their peak, you should still be able to spot the odd shooting star into next week, and it is not long to wait until the next, and final meteor shower of 2024 - the Ursids.

Although not as bright or as frequent as the meteors that come with the Geminids, the Ursids, which peak on 23 December, could deliver five to 10 meteors per hour.