Night owls can catch the year’s most “prolific fireworks show,” the Geminid meteor shower, late this evening when the shower reaches its peak.

Often overlooked or overshadowed by the earlier Leonid and Perseid meteor showers due to frigid temps and proximity to holidays, the Geminid meteor shower is likely to be the most impressive light show all year:

“It may come as a surprise to many, but the Geminids are currently richer and are brighter on average,” said Anthony Cook, astronomy observer at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.

Skygazers can expect as many as 140 shooting stars during the Geminid shower, starting around 9pm EST. Peak hours are from 10pm until 5am Eastern time, and Geminids are expected to be most frequent in the two hours around 1:10 am EST. Viewers can expect “beautiful, long arcs” of light across the night sky lasting a few seconds. Those in areas without significant amounts of light pollution can expect a peak of 60 meteors an hour.

[Source, Image: Nat Geo]

Peak time to view Geminid Meteor Shower is late tonight is a post from: The Inquisitr