Annual Meteor Shower Peaking, Here’s When to Watch in Minnesota

There's a big annual meteor shower that's been going on and tonight is peak viewing time. The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks tonight and early tomorrow morning in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

NASA says that this annual meteor shower is because of "debris from a celestial object known as 3200 Phaethon". I guess no one knows for sure what 3200 Phaethon actually is. Some astronomers think it's an extinct comet, others think it's an asteroid. Whatever it really is, they do know it's the cause of the cool meteor shower we get to see.

While the meteor shower peaks tonight, if you aren't able to check it out tonight it does go until December 17th so you have a few days still. But tonight, the peak time for the meteor shower is 2 AM. So if you're an avid stargazer or if you're up at 2 AM anyway, try and get somewhere that there's no light pollution to get optimal viewing.

Of course, if there are too many clouds or if the moon is too bright that might ruin things. The clouds you can't really do anything about the clouds but if the moon is too bright wait until it goes down a little bit in the early morning and you should be able to see the meteor shower better.

If you get the chance to watch the meteor shower tonight, NASA says tonight, in the northern hemisphere (so where we are) you can expect to see 30-40 meteors per hour, so there's no way you're going to miss it!