How to see the Geminids

14 December

No telescope and no binoculars — for this one they only get in the way.

When to go out

The best hours are after midnight, when your side of the Earth has turned to face the way we are travelling and the dust comes at you head on.

How many you will really see

The books say 150 meteors an hour at best. That is one person under a perfect black sky with the shower directly overhead, and almost nobody ever gets it. From a garden with a streetlight, a handful an hour is a good night — and one bright one is worth the wait. A bright Moon hides all but the brightest ones too, so check its phase before you plan the night.

Where to look

Anywhere. They streak across the whole sky, and if you stare at one spot you will miss the rest. What they share is a direction: trace them backwards and they all point at Gemini, which is where the shower gets its name.

What they are

Dust from asteroid Phaethon, spread along its path. The Earth crosses that path on the same date every year, and the specks hit the air at 35 kilometres a second — most of them smaller than a grain of sand.