Thanks to my good friend Tom for giving me a heads-up on the forthcoming Geminid Meteor Shower, which will be peaking this Sunday night/Monday morning (13/14 December 2009). According to info available at assorted on-line sources, the show will be at its best starting after midnight, but already folks are reporting seeing meteors (not around here, though - the only white things shooting across the night sky here lately have been snowflakes...oh, and snow geese).
A good link for info is the Astronomy.com website.
According to Astronomy.com, these meteors are bits of dust entering our atmosphere and are believed to be related in some way to the orbit of an asteroid called Phaethon. There is some speculation that this asteroid may have been a comet at one point in time.
So, bundle up (especially if it is a clear night - brrrr) and look up. They say that the show will be exceptional, with upwards of 140 meteors an hour (more than 2/minute).
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