When is the best time to see the Geminids in 2027?

The Geminids peak around 20:00 UTC on December 14, 2027, the strongest regular shower of the year (ZHR 150), but this time under a 98% full moon near the northernmost point of its path. Across Europe and North America the moon is up through every dark hour from the night of December 11 to 12 until the peak, so there is no moonless window at all. The Geminid radiant still climbs high (about 72° in Europe around 2:00), and under the full moon a clear sky gives roughly 34 meteors an hour, dark site or not. The first moonless hours come in the evenings after the peak, from the night of December 16 to 17, as the waning moon rises later; Geminid rates are lower by then.

Peak time and rates from the International Meteor Organization's 2027 calendar; the radiant, sun and moon are calculated for each of the 4,176 places on Yozora Atlas. Geometry, not a weather forecast. All 2027 showers: meteor showers 2027.

How high is the Geminid radiant, and when is the moon down, in your time zone?

Middle values of the places in each time zone. "Under the full moon" is the ZHR of 150 times the sine of the radiant's height, for a sky where the faintest stars are magnitude 5 (a full moon lights the sky about as much as a suburb). "Moonless" counts the hours with the sun 18° or more down, the moon below the horizon and the radiant 10° or more up, on the nights of December 15 to 16, 16 to 17, 17 to 18.

Left: meteors an hour at the radiant's highest point on the peak night, under a full-moon sky. Right: places at Bortle 4 or darker, by the dark, moonless hours with the radiant up on the nights of December 15 to 16 to December 17 to 18 together; rates on those nights are lower than at the peak, by an amount the IMO calendar doesn't give.

Geminids 2027 in every town and park

The radiant's highest point on the peak night, the count under the full moon, and the moonless hours on the nights after. The largest places first; search for any other.