It’s a ‘dazzling’ year to see the Geminid meteor shower — between the clouds

NASA says the peak of the Geminid meteor shower Wednesday night will be “dazzling.”

Sky & Telescope calls it “the shower we’ve been waiting for.”

CNN gushes that “this year is expected to be the best meteor shower ever.”

The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, Mo., says it will be ... partly cloudy.

Notwithstanding, celestial conditions this year are optimal.

“Not only is it the year’s most prolific, with up to 120 meteors per hour visible from rural skies, the moon is essentially out of the picture,” Sky & Telescope says.

(Last year there was a supermoon, which dominated the sky.)

They will come from the east, appearing to originate from the Gemini constellation twins Castor and Pollux.

Viewing will be best in the wee hours, but the show will start about 9 p.m.

“Most meteor showers are caused by comets,” CNN notes. “The Geminids are associated with an asteroid called the 3200 Phaethon. Having an asteroid as the foundation of a meteor shower provides an excellent source of dust grains that will burn up as they dive into the Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA. That’s why some researchers call Phaethon a ‘rock comet.’ ”

If it’s too cloudy or you don’t want to venture out in the cold, you can watch the Geminids online. NASA will also stream the show beginning at 8 p.m. central time.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 11:18 AM with the headline "It’s a ‘dazzling’ year to see the Geminid meteor shower — between the clouds."