Peaking on the nights of 13 and 14 December - from Sunday night until sunrise this Monday -this year's most active meteor shower takes place.
If you're lucky enough t have a clear sky you should easily be able to spot 50 or more meteors per hour. On an optimum night for the Geminids, it may even be possible to see up 100 meteors per hour.
With a new moon happening on 14 December, this year the skies will be extra dark, and meteor watching will be even better than usual. So, what are the Geminids? According to NASA, these shooting stars are “caused by a stream of debris left by the asteroid, 3200 Phaethon. When the Earth passes through the trails of dust every December left by 3200 Phaethon, we see the Geminid meteor shower as the dust (meteoroids) burn up in Earth’s atmosphere creating meteors.”
Visible all over the world, though best seen in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s no need to look in a particular direction to spot these burning specks of dust. Just find a dark spot, a large patch of open sky, and look up.
