Join us for a Shooting Star Party Live on Sunday, December 13th, starting at 5:30 PM EST.

Other timezones: 2:30 PM PST ¦ 22:30UTC ¦ 4 AM IST

On the night of December 13, the Earth passes through the stream of debris left by the asteroid "3200 Phaethon". As each rocky fragment enters Earth's atmosphere, it vapourises in a spectacular firey end as a meteor.

Yes, this is it - the Geminids - arguably the best meteor shower of the year, and we'll be celebrating with a Star Party! The Geminids Meteor Shower can generate over 100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. And this year, there is no Moon to spoil our view, so we should see plenty of bright meteors.

An Early Shower
The Geminids is one of the few showers that provide a good number of meteors before midnight. This is because the radiant of the shower (where they appear to come from) lies in the constellation of Gemini, which has already risen well above the horizon by 10 PM local time. However, we still expect meteor numbers to continue to increase throughout the night!

About the Geminids
The Geminids show up as mostly white and yellow, with perhaps 10% showing blue or red hues. Geminids trace their path back to a point in the constellation Gemini near the bright star, Castor. You can usually see more meteors when the radiant is higher in the sky. Since Gemini is one of the northernmost zodiacal constellations, the radiant is much higher in the northern hemisphere, meaning that northern meteor watchers will see more meteors than those in the southern hemisphere.

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