Geminids from Australia: the night of 14–15 December 2026

Key facts

• Active 4–20 December; peak at 13:45 UTC on 14 December.
• Peak in local time: 12:45 am AEDT on Tuesday 15 December (Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra), 12:15 am ACDT on the 15th (Adelaide), 11:45 pm AEST on Monday 14 December (Brisbane), 11:15 pm ACST on the 14th (Darwin) and 9:45 pm AWST on the 14th (Perth).
• ZHR about 150. Medium-speed meteors, about 35 km/s, from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
• Moon: a 25% waxing crescent that sets in the late evening, before the peak on the east coast and in Adelaide.
• Radiant: in Gemini, rising in the north-east in the late evening and reaching only about 23–30° above the horizon from Sydney, Perth and Brisbane, and less further south.

Why you will see fewer than the headline number

ZHR (zenithal hourly rate) is the count one observer would make in an hour with the radiant straight overhead and a perfectly dark sky. It is a theoretical ceiling. One rule of thumb is that real counts run from about a quarter to a little over half of it under good conditions.

From Australia the Geminid radiant never gets high. Its greatest height is roughly 90° minus the sum of your latitude and 33°: about 30° from Brisbane, 25° from Perth, 23° from Sydney, 19° from Melbourne and 14° from Hobart. A low radiant means fewer meteors, so plan on the lower end of that rule of thumb: a few dozen an hour from a dark site after midnight, and far fewer from town.

The further north you are, the better: from Darwin the radiant climbs to about 45°. But December is the wet season in the Top End, and cloud is the bigger risk there.

State by state: radiant, Moon and best hours

• Queensland (AEST): in Brisbane the radiant rises at about 9:04 pm and the Moon sets at 10:21 pm on 14 December. The peak is at 11:45 pm. Shoot from about 10:30 pm until first light.
• NSW and the ACT (AEDT): in Sydney the radiant rises at about 10:35 pm and the Moon sets at 11:38 pm. The peak is at 12:45 am on the 15th. Shoot from about 11:40 pm until first light.
• Victoria and Tasmania (AEDT): the radiant rises later and sits lower than in Sydney, and lower again in Hobart. The 12:45 am peak is still in full darkness; start around midnight and keep going until first light.
• South Australia (ACDT): in Adelaide the radiant rises at about 11:00 pm and the Moon sets at about midnight. The peak is at 12:15 am on the 15th. Shoot from midnight until first light.
• Western Australia (AWST): the 9:45 pm peak comes just as the radiant rises in Perth (about 9:49 pm), with the Moon up until 10:59 pm. Rates ease after the peak, but the radiant keeps climbing, so about 11 pm to first light is still your best chance.
• Northern Territory (ACST): the peak is at 11:15 pm on the 14th, and the radiant climbs higher than anywhere in the south.
• If the 14th is cloudy, the night of 13–14 December is the next best.

Where to go

Pick a site with a dark, open horizon to the north-east and north, where Gemini rises. Hills or tall trees in that direction cost you meteors.

• Warrumbungle National Park, NSW: Australia’s first International Dark Sky Park, near Coonabarabran, about 5.5 hours from Sydney. Camping needs a permit from the visitor centre.
• Blue Mountains, NSW: Katoomba is about 100 km and 1.5–2 hours from Sydney. Darker than the city, though with no formal dark-sky status; find a spot with an open northern view.
• Grampians (Gariwerd), Victoria: about three hours from Melbourne and on Parks Victoria’s stargazing list.
• SA: the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve (Swan Reach core about 100 km from Adelaide, 4WD only, no facilities), or the Flinders Ranges, where Wilpena Pound is 5–6 hours from Adelaide and kangaroos cross the road constantly between Hawker and Wilpena, especially at dawn and dusk.
• Queensland: the Sunshine Coast hinterland International Dark Sky Reserve. Low-lying hinterland parks can fog over, so higher ground is the safer bet.
• WA: Nambung National Park (the Pinnacles), two to two and a half hours from Perth; check night access with Parks and Wildlife first. Perth Observatory in Bickley lists a Geminids night on 14 December; confirm the date and booking with them.
• Tasmania: with the radiant only about 14° up from Hobart, a clear northern horizon matters more than anywhere else.

Camera settings

A wide lens (14–24 mm on full frame) at f/1.8–f/2.8, ISO 1600–3200 and 10–20 second exposures is a solid starting point. Check the exposure with the 500 rule: 500 divided by the full-frame focal length gives the longest exposure in seconds before stars trail, about 25 seconds at 20 mm. For crop sensors, multiply the focal length by 1.5 or 1.6 first. The NPF rule, built into many planning apps, is stricter and better for high-resolution cameras.

Frame the north-eastern sky about 30–45° to one side of Gemini with a landscape along the bottom, and shoot continuously with an intervalometer from moonset until dawn. Afterwards, stack the frames that caught meteors into one composite; if the radiant is in frame, the trails will point back to it.

On a phone, use a tripod, set night mode to its longest exposure, lock focus if your camera app allows it, and keep shooting. Expect to keep only a small share of the frames.

Bring a spare battery and something to stop dew, such as a lens heater strip or a hand warmer strapped to the lens.

Other December showers

Earlier in the month, the Puppid-Velids (1–15 December, listed peak around 6 December) offer a high southern radiant, above 70° from Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, under a dark sky: the Moon is only about 6% lit on the 6th. Sources disagree on the rate, with ZHR figures of 5 and 10, so treat them as a gear test. The Ursids on 22 December can be ignored: their radiant never rises from Australia.

Summer conditions

Mid-December sits in the Bureau of Meteorology’s October-to-April peak period for heatwaves, bushfires and severe thunderstorms. Check the forecast and radar on the afternoon of the 14th, and check fire danger ratings and total fire bans where you are going; in NSW a ban means no open fires and no wood or charcoal barbecues. In remote parks carry water and food, keep to formed roads, and drive slowly at night, when wombats, emus and kangaroos are active.

If you catch a good Geminid, share it in the Astro photography hobby on Garbamons.