In the nighttime hours of Dec. 13, the streaking glow of falling stars will ignite across darkened skies, giving stargazers a glimpse of one of the most active meteor showers of the year: the Geminid Meteor Shower.
It is set to peak on Saturday night into the predawn hours of Sunday morning, and is considered to be one of the most consistently active meteor showers, according to a Slooh.com press release.
Who Will See the Geminid Meteor Shower?
Some of the best viewing conditions will be across the East as a sprawling high pressure system sits across the region, leading to clear skies for many areas, according to AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Andy Mussoline.
The interior West and southern Southwest will observe mainly clear skies as well, he added.
Fair to poor conditions will be found across much of the Rockies and Plains as a storm develops over Colorado and the southern Plains Saturday night into Sunday.
Clouds will limit the view across parts of the West Coast as a storm approaches, Mussoline said.
More Details About the Geminid Meteor Shower
"You will be able to see 60-80 per hour with the naked eye with a wide expanse of sky in a rural area," Slooh Astronomer Bob Berman said. "Cities will only be able to see one or two per hour."
Those who do not have suitable viewing conditions for the Geminid Meteor Shower's peak can view Slooh's live broadcast of the event below, which is set to air on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 8:00 p.m. EST.
The event will broadcast from two locations beginning with Slooh's flagship observatory at the Institute of Astrophysics, Canary Islands, and later from Prescott, Arizona, at Prescott Observatory.
"The Geminids are very strange because they hit Earth sideways," Berman said. "These meteors hit us gently. While Summer's Perseids strike Earth at 37 miles per second, that's amazingly fast, and the Leonids are even a little bit faster, hitting us at just over 40 miles a second, these Geminids hit us at only 22 miles a second."
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