What potentially will be the best meteor display of the year is just around the corner, scheduled to reach its peak on late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, Dec. 13-14: The Geminid meteor shower.
If you were disappointed with the meager showing put on by last month's Leonid meteor shower, don't fret. The Geminid meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the famous Perseids of August. Studies of past displays show that this shower has a reputation for being rich both in slow, bright, graceful meteors and fireballs as well as faint meteors, with relatively fewer objects of medium brightness. Geminids typically encounter Earth at 22 miles (35 km) per second; roughly half the speed of a Leonid meteor. Many appear yellowish in hue. Some have even been seen to form jagged or divided paths.
