ATLANTA — A stargazer's delight this week is ahead with the peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower.
This year, the meteor shower comes along with a new moon, which will minimize the amount of light pollution in the sky and help maximize how many of the meteors you can see.
The meteor shower peaks Wednesday into Thursday, but any night this week could be decent to catch a glimpse of a few meteors. We do expect mostly clear skies for the next few nights this week.
The Geminid Meteor Shower is known as one of the best meteor showers of the year. The meteors come from the Asteroid 3200 Phethon, as opposed to a comet, like most meteor showers. The meteors will radiate from the constellation Gemini.
The meteor shower can be best viewed between midnight and 2 a.m., but you could see the meteors any time between 10 p.m. and early in the morning.
At best, with the new moon, you may catch dozens of meteors per hour in the right sky and viewing conditions.
To see the meteor shower, get away from lights. That means get outside the city and out into a rural area without light pollution. Let your eyes adjust for at least 15 minutes. Then watch. Look high in the east sky to find the radiant point, the constellation Gemini.
The 11Alive StormTrackers are forecasting a mostly clear to partly cloudy sky Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. The new moon (least light pollution) is Tuesday. Don't forget an extra blanket or jacket - it will be cold! Good luck!
