Tonight you might watch some galactical fireworks : the Geminid meteor shower peaks this night. Start watching this evening, around 10 pm local time. At first you might not see very many meteors—but be patient. The show really heats up after midnight and by dawn on Friday, Dec. 14th, there could be dozens of bright meteors per hour streaking across the sky. For the best results, watch the esastern sky in the morning hours before sundawn. Mars is in the vicinity, so that's a good beacon.


The Geminids are not ordinary meteors. While most meteor showers come from comets, Geminids come from an asteroid—a near-Earth object named 3200 Phaethon. It's a mystery how an asteroid can produce meteors, but the most common accepted theory is that Phaeton used to be a comet, and that the current asteroid is the inner iron core that remains.