Geminids could be the year's best meteor shower

Many consider the Geminids to be the best meteor shower of the year frequently surpassing the Perseids in August and the Leonids in November.

This year could be exceptional. Once the thin crescent moon sets at 7:51 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13 there will be dark skies for the best portion of the Geminids meteor shower, which peaks on Sunday night, Dec. 13 and Monday morning Dec. 14.

The Geminids are tiny pieces of debris from the asteroid Phaeton, which is thought to be a rocky skeleton of a comet that lost most of its outer covering of ice.

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During a meteor shower, most of the meteors appear to come from a point in the sky. This point or “radiant” is in the constellation for which the shower is named. The Geminids radiate from Gemini the Twins which will be overhead at 1:30 a.m.

However, it’s hard to look directly overhead for any length of time. I find it is most comfortable to look at the sky about halfway up from the horizon. This is easily done while sitting bundled up in a favorite lawn chair with a cup of chiltepin hot chocolate or other warm beverage of your choice.

You can look in any direction that strikes your fancy, since the meteors will appear to radiate from Gemini going to all parts of the sky. If you choose to look toward the south, you will enjoy mighty Orion the Hunter with his faithful hunting dog Canis Major following in his footsteps with Sirius the brightest star in the sky.