The Geminids, one of the last meteor showers of the year, is also considered one of the best. And it's about to hit its peak activity in 2025.

Bright shooting stars – from the Quadrantids in January to the Leonids in November – may regularly fill the skies throughout each year. But the Geminid meteor shower is one stargazers have likely had circled on their calendars.

That's because, among professional and amateur astronomers alike, the Geminids are considered to be the cream of the crop. The cosmic display is famed for its strong, bright and colorful fireballs that blaze across the sky at speeds reaching about 120 miles per second.

While a waning crescent moon could interfere with the shower's visibility in 2025, you should still have good chances of catching the whizzing meteors when the Geminids peak in a matter of days.

Here's everything to know about the Geminid meteor shower, and its impending peak – visible from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

When is the Geminid meteor shower?

The Geminid meteor shower already became active in 2025 beginning Dec. 4, and is expected to remain so until at least Dec. 17, according to the American Meteor Society.

Geminid meteor shower 2025: Here's when, what time, activity peaks

In 2025, the Leonid meteor shower is set to peak between Saturday, Dec. 13, and Sunday, Dec. 14, according to the Planetary Society.

The best time to see meteors are typically between midnight and pre-dawn hours. However, the Geminids are considered to be one of the best opportunities for young stargazers since the shower can start as early as 9 p.m. locally, according to NASA.

Visit the website TimeAndDate.com to find the best times and viewing directions for your location.

How many meteors will be visible? What to know about shower rate

When the Geminids are most active, stargazers have the opportunity to witness a dizzying 120 meteors per hour under the right weather conditions.

But it's not just the quantity of meteors that the Geminids put out that make them famous, but also the quality. The meteors produced by the Geminids' parent asteroid have a reputation for being colorful, sometimes appearing as yellowish streaks.

While it is now one of the year's strongest meteor showers, the Geminids didn't start out that way, according to NASA. When the shower first began appearing in the mid-1800s, only 10 to 20 meteors could be seen per hour.

Could the moon interfere with Geminids?

In 2025, the moon will be 30% full and in a waning crescent phase during the peak of the Geminid meteors. The moon will rise by 2 a.m. local time, after which spectators can still have success spotting meteors by facing west to keep the moon and its light at their backs, according to the American Meteor Society.

How to watch Geminids: Tips for seeing streaking meteors

The Geminids are named after the constellation Gemini because the meteors seem to emerge – or radiate – from the same area in the sky.

But astronomers caution that the radiant is not a good guide for where stargazers should look to view the zipping meteors, which should be visible across the night sky around the globe.

Here are some general viewing tips from NASA:

  • Find an area well away from street lights and the light pollution of cities.
  • Come prepared for winter temperatures with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair.
  • Lie flat on your back and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. The meteors will appear in the eastern sky near the bright planet Jupiter, NASA said in its December skywatching guide.

It should take less than 30 minutes for your eyes to adapt so that you can see streaking meteors.

Want to find a dark area near you? DarkSky International is a U.S nonprofit that maintains a list of designated dark sky communities around the world, including 166 in the United States.

What causes the Geminids? Are meteor showers 'shooting stars?'

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through dusty debris trails left by comets and other space objects as they orbit the sun.

The debris – space rocks known as meteoroids – collides with Earth's atmosphere at high speed and disintegrates, creating fiery and colorful streaks in the sky, according to NASA.

Those resulting fireballs, better known as "shooting stars," are meteors. If meteoroids survive their trip to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere, they are called meteorites, NASA says.

Unlike most meteor showers, the Geminid meteor shower doesn't originate from a comet, but from an asteroid.

Astronomers theorize that the asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, could be what's known as a "dead comet" or "rock comet" that it just a rocky core, having lost all its ices and gases that give the space rocks their signatures tails, according to NASA. The small asteroid, which is little more than 3 miles in diameter, approaches so close to the sun that it was named for the son of the sun-god Helios, who in Greek mythology lost control of his father's chariot and set the Earth ablaze.

What other meteor showers are happening in 2025?

Just one more meteor shower is due to peak before the end of 2025. The Ursids are due to become active between Dec. 16-26, peaking Dec. 21-22.

The Quadrantids will also begin in 2025 on Dec. 26, but the shower will not peak until Jan. 3, 2026.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When do the Geminids peak? What to know about December meteor shower

Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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