How to watch the Leonid and Geminid meteor showers in 2026
When to look, where to look and how the Moon affects the Leonids (peak Nov 17) and the Geminids (peak Dec 14) in 2026, with a simple plan for one night outside.
Two meteor showers close out 2026. The Leonids peak around the night of November 17 to 18, and the Geminids, the strongest shower of the year, peak around the night of December 13 to 14. You do not need a telescope for either. You need a dark place, about an hour, and to know when the Moon is out of the way.
The short version
- Leonids (Nov 17 to 18): a modest shower, often around 10 to 15 meteors an hour under a dark sky. The Moon is near first quarter, about half lit, and sets around midnight. The best hours are after the Moon sets and before dawn, when the constellation Leo is high in the east.
- Geminids (Dec 13 to 14): one of the richest showers, with bright, slow meteors. The Moon is a thin crescent (about a fifth lit) that sets early in the evening, so the whole night is dark. Gemini rises in the evening, so you can start around 10 pm and keep going.
1. Pick the right hours
Meteor counts rise after midnight for almost every shower, because your side of the Earth is then facing forward into the stream of dust. Moonlight washes out the faint meteors, so the best window is when the radiant (the point the meteors seem to come from) is high and the Moon is down. For the Leonids in 2026 that means roughly 1 am until the sky starts to brighten. For the Geminids it is most of the night.
2. Get away from lights
A park on the edge of town is better than a balcony in the centre. Turn your back to the nearest town glow. Give your eyes 20 minutes to adapt and avoid looking at a white phone screen in that time: one glance resets your night vision. A red screen mode helps a lot.
3. Look about halfway up, not at the radiant
Meteors appear anywhere in the sky. Their trails just point back to the radiant. Looking 40 to 60 degrees away from it shows you longer trails. Lie back on a mat or a reclining chair so you can watch a wide patch of sky without a sore neck.
4. Dress for standing still
November and December nights are cold in the northern hemisphere, and you will not be moving. Bring a warm layer more than you think, a hat, and something hot to drink.
5. Count, or try a photo
Counting meteors for 15 minutes at a time is a fun way to see how the rate changes through the night. For photos, use a tripod, the widest lens you have, a high ISO and exposures of 10 to 20 seconds, and let the camera shoot continuously. Most frames will be empty; a few will catch a streak.
Using SpaceUtil for the night
SpaceUtil lists every major meteor shower with its peak night and how bright the Moon will be, and its Tonight screen gives a short briefing on observing conditions with Moon phase, twilight times and rise and set times for the Sun, Moon and planets. Hold your phone up to the sky to find Leo or Gemini on the star map, switch on the red night mode once you are outside, and log what you saw.
