A Geminid meteor streaks between peaks of the Seven Sisters rock formation early in 2018 in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
NEW YORK CITY – The Geminids meteor shower, known for colorful shooting stars, fireballs and long-lasting tails, is like an early holiday light show coming to the skies over NYC. The shower, regarded as one of the year’s best, peaks late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Weather permitting, we may see as many as 30 meteors an hour though the National Weather Service is not expecting good conditions. Rain is in the forecast.
The best time to see the Geminids is around 2 a.m. local time. A nearly full moon is expected to wash out all but the brightest, but NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke says the show is still worth a trip outside to watch.
“It won’t be a total washout because the Geminids have a lot of fireballs in them,” Cooke told Space.com.
The meteors fly quickly and could continue for a few days after the peak, so continue scanning the skies whenever you’re out at night.
The Geminids are reliably the most prolific meteor shower of the year, producing up to 120 shooting stars an hour — typically outperforming the summertime favorite, the Perseids.
The first known report of the Geminid meteor shower was in 1833, when it was seen from a riverboat moving slowly on the Mississippi River. It’s grown in intensity over the centuries since as Jupiter’s […]
