The Geminids Meteor Shower Will be Visible Tonight, Here are the Best Times and Places to See it in Australia

This year’s Geminids meteor shower will arrive in Australia in the early hours of tomorrow morning with an estimated 150 meteors set to light up the night sky every hour.

The astronomical event will climax at 2.30am (AEDT), but meteors will begin to fall every few minutes from around 1am.

Meteor showers are usually caused by the debris of comet trails, which fly through the atmosphere as the earth passes through them.

The annual Geminid Shower, however, is caused when our planet passes through the trail of a five-kilometre-wide asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.

Astronomer Dr Alan Duffy said the Geminid Shower is more likely to put on a better show than any other kind of meteor shower.

“Last night I snuck out and saw a few shooting stars early so that was actually quite exciting. That’s a really good sign that we have a great meteor shower coming tonight,” he told The World Today.

Amateur astronomer Dr Ian Musgrave from the University of Adelaide has the following advice on the best way to see the shower. 

“Remember the more light pollution you have, the fewer meteors you’ll see, so the further away from city lights, the better,” he told the ABC.

“You should get a decent display anytime between 1am and 4am, with a meteor every two to three minutes.

“But they’re a bit like buses, often nothing happens for quite a while, then a bunch will come all at once.”

To take advantage of the best times to view the meteor shower, refer to the start and peak times listed below.

Brisbane: around 9pm (AEST) - peak time at 4am (AEST)

Sydney: around 10.30pm (AEDT) - peak time at 5am (AEDT)

Canberra: after 10.40pm (AEDT) - peak time at 5am (AEDT)

Melbourne: just after 11pm (AEDT) - peak time at 5am (AEDT)

Hobart: around 11.20pm (AEDT) - peak time at 5am (AEDT)

Darwin: around 9.30pm (ACST) - peak time at 3.30am (ACST)

Adelaide: just before 11pm (ACDT) - peak time at 4.30am (ACDT)

Perth: just before 10pm (AWST) - peak time at 2am (AWST)

The sun will rise in most places across the country at 5.10am, so make sure not to wait too long to see the shower.

Melbourne and Darwin and both expected to have cloudy nights, which could spoil the meteor viewing.

But the sky in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane is predicted to be cloud free until 4am - perfect timing for the shower.