The annual Geminid meteor shower, regarded as the best one of all the annual showers, will peak tonight starting at around 9 PM.
The annual Geminid meteor shower is expected to produce a reliable shooting star show that will get going Sunday and peak the middle of next week.
The Geminid event is known for producing one or two meteors every minute during the peak for viewers with dark skies willing to brave chilly nights.
If the Geminid Meteor Shower occurred during a warmer month, it would be as familiar to most people as the famous August Perseids. Indeed, a night all snuggled-up in a sleeping bag under the stars is an attractive proposition in summer. But it's hard to imagine anything more bone chilling than lying on the ground in mid-December for several hours at night.
But if you are willing to bundle up, late next Wednesday night into early Thursday morning will be when the Geminids are predicted to be at their peak.
Most satisfying shower
The Geminids are a very fine winter shower, and usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the Perseids. Studies of past displays show that this shower has a reputation for being rich both in slow, bright, graceful meteors and fireballs as well as faint meteors, with relatively fewer objects of medium brightness. Many appear yellowish in hue. Some even appear to form jagged or divided paths.
A sky map can be found here. If you can find Orion, Gemini appears to the upper left of that constellation.
