The Most Spectacular Meteor Shower of the Year Is Happening Tonight
The stars are aligning for this year's Geminid meteor shower to be particularly magnificent. The Geminids produce visible meteors in the night sky from about December 4 to December 16, though the peak of the shower, with as many as 120 meteors visible per hour, is during the night of December 13 and early morning of December 14. The best time to view a meteor shower is in the hours just before dawn.
This year, the night sky will be particularly dark for the peak of the Geminid shower, as the moon will only be a small sliver in the sky. Jupiter will also be out, just south of the waning crescent moon.
The Geminids appear to emerge from the constellation Gemini, from which they take their name. Meteors should be visible across the entire sky, though the best way to catch them is to look south toward the constellation. The shower will be visible across the entire globe except for Antarctica, which gets 24 hours of sunlight per day during this part of the year.
Unlike most meteor showers, the Geminids come from debris left behind by an asteroid rather than a comet. As asteroid 3200 Phaethon orbits the sun about once every 1.4 years, it leaves behind a trail of debris. When the Earth passes through this debris field every year, chunks of rock and ice burn up in the planet's atmosphere, which is what causes the stellar show.
The best way to view the meteors is to get somewhere rural with minimal light pollution. Be patient, and remember it takes about 20 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the dark. Always one of the most active showers of the year, the Geminids this month will land on a night with almost perfect conditions. Clear skies!
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