Geminids “King” Meteor Shower

The waning crescent moon will leave us with dark skies for this show. Under a dark sky like this one, you might catch as many as 120 meteors per hour.
Since the radiant rises in mid-evening, you can watch for Geminids all night on December 13-14. The days before and after might be good as well.

Also keep an eye out for Jupiter shining strong.

The bold, bright white and slow moving Geminids give us one of the Northern Hemisphere?s best showers. They?re also visible, at lower rates, from the Southern Hemisphere. The meteors are plentiful, rivaling the August Perseids.

Most meteor showers are the result of us passing though comet trails. These meteors are the debris left behind by an *asteroid* known as 3200 Phaethon, discovered in 1982. The shower runs annually from December 7-17. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Gemini, but can appear anywhere in the sky.