It’s the holiday season and space is gifting us a major celestial sight tonight: the Geminid meteor shower.
This meteor shower, which takes place in mid-December each year, will peak after midnight and into the morning of Dec. 14, according to NASA. If you’re not around to watch, no worries: You can still catch good views of the Geminids from the evening of Dec. 14 to the early morning of Dec. 15.
Weather permitting, the Geminid meteor shower can generate up to 120 meteors per hour. However, a bright, almost full moon could obstruct shooting star observations. NASA predicts that observers may see up to 30 meteors per hour.
The best time to spot the Geminids is at approximately 2 a.m. your local time on Dec. 14. The Geminid radiant, also known as the celestial point where paths of meteors appear to come from, will be the highest in the night sky. The bright show is expected start around midnight and end at 4 a.m. local time. The Geminids will be the most visible from the Northern Hemisphere, but NASA says you can spot them all around the world (except Antarctica).
The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks tonight. The Moon will be pretty bright, but you might still see some meteors. Here’s our guide: https://t.co/ZLWlHxVx6v #Geminids pic.twitter.com/O2vf34rPm6
— Planetary Society (@exploreplanets) December 13, 2019
Pro tip: Find an area away from city lights and give your eyes roughly 30 minutes to adapt to the night sky. NASA advises to NOT look at your cell phone, since it will get in the way of your night vision. Lie down on your back, look straight up, and see if you can spot the Geminids above.
The Geminids are fragments of debris from an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon. Our planet crosses paths with the asteroid’s debris stream every year in mid-December. This run-in causes meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini.
To learn more about this month’s skywatching events, visit our December 2019 roundup here.
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