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The Geminids are here. What you need to know for the year's brightest meteor show
A meteor burns up in the sky over al-Abrak desert north of Kuwait City during the annual Geminid meteor shower.
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Yasser Al-Zayat
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Getty Images
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What you need to know for the year's brightest meteor show
The Geminids are here this weekend. We've got you covered.
Geminids, the strongest meteor shower of the year, hit a peak this weekend, sending over 150 meteors per hour through the night sky tonight and Sunday.
Vanessa Alarcon, an astronomical observer at the Griffith Observatory, says despite being the best and brightest every year, these meteors don’t tend to get many fans.
" It's usually not as heavily attended, I think because it's a lot colder in the winter. So it's definitely a deterrent, but technically, it's more meteors per hour than the Perseids are," Alarcon said.
The Perseids are typically visible between July and August, but this summer, they were mostly drowned out because of light pollution from the full moon.
Alarcon says it will be a different story this weekend.
" The Geminids ... there's about a 25% crescent moon. So it's actually going be even better than the Perseids," Alarcon said.
Where to go for the best view
For the best viewing experience, you'll have to brave the cold of the deserts and mountains at night, but it should be worth the trip.
"You should go to a darker sky," Alarcon said. "And basically, you just want to get away from the city lights — anything away from the city lights is going to be an improvement from trying to watch it at home."
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When to best see it
The Geminids are notable for being exceptionally bright, burning like fireballs for several seconds. The meteors can be seen after 8 p.m. tonight, Alarcon said, peaking between 1:20 and 2:20 a.m. and visible until 5:20 a.m.
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