Look up tonight to see the best meteor shower of the year
Get out your heavy winter coats because this year's best meteor shower peaks tonight.
The Geminid meteor shower is expected to be an incredible show for the folks who can see it in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
NASA is predicting the meteor rates could be as high as 60 per hour in dark areas with little light pollution to blot out even the faintest shooting stars.
"With August's Perseids obscured by bright moonlight, the Geminids will be the best shower this year," NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke said in a statement. "The thin, waning crescent moon won't spoil the show."
The Geminids should reach their peak in the overnight hours between Wednesday and Thursday, with the absolute best rates expected at 4 a.m. ET Thursday, when the radiant point — the Gemini constellation — is highest in the sky, Cooke added.
If you want a dazzling view of the shower, get as far away from city lights as possible. Find a field or somewhere with an open view of a cloud-free sky where you can lie down and look up for hours on end.
You don't need any special equipment to see the shower, but you do need a fair bit of patience.
Allow your eyes about 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness and then just keep your eyes peeled for any meteors streaking through the skies.
Be sure to check the weather before you head out and bring layers and even something warm to drink if it's going to be chilly.
While people in rural areas will get the best look at the meteor shower, you still have a shot of seeing at least a few bright meteors from a light-polluted area.
If you do want to try to see the Geminids from a city, get into a park or even try to use buildings to block our artificial light that could ruin your night vision, Cooke said in 2015. Basically, just try to get somewhere with a clear view of the sky and as little bright light as possible.
If you are in the the heart of a city, don't expect to see more than a few meteors tonight, but if you're lucky, some bright shooting stars should break through and give you a show.
The Geminids peak every year around this time as the Earth passes through material left behind by an object named 3200 Phaethon.
"Phaethon's nature is debated," Cooke added. "It's either a near-Earth asteroid or an extinct comet, sometimes called a rock comet."
If your skies aren't clear or you're not able to head outside for the shower, check out NASA's meteor webcam tonight live starting at sunset.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
