When Does Geminid Meteor Shower Peak?
This one is for the record books! Find out when to watch up to 120 meteors per hour, as the lively Germinid meteor shower peaks.
The final major meteor shower of 2012, the Geminid meteor shower, will peak overnight on Thursday, Dec. 13, into Friday morning. If you are willing to stay up late – or get up early – you're in for a show. NASA reports that the Geminids is a relatively young meteor shower, with the first sightings in the 1830s, with rates of about 20 per hour. Over time the rate of visible meteors has increased; now viewers can expect to see 80 to 120 meteors per hour at its peak. Now's your chance to catch a shooting star! Well, not quite, but Earthsky.org advises viewers to watch the Geminids starting at 9 or 10 p.m. on Thursday. The peak will likely be between 1 to 3 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 14. That’s when the shower’s radiant point is highest in the sky…
