Watch Live Geminid Meteor Shower December 2014 As It Peaks Tonight (VIDEO)
It is happening tonight, Saturday, December 13, 2014 (early dawn December 14th)! The 2014 Geminid meteor shower is forecast to be a lively meteor shower with great views in the skies over Earth, and tonight is the anticipated peak.
Best viewing will be in dark sky locations, away from city lights. Cloudy? If you cannot view it outside because of the weather constraints, NASA is hosting an overnight web chat from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. EST and will broadcast the shower live on Ustream (video streaming embedded below).
Geminids are pieces of debris from an object called 3200 Phaethon. Long thought to be an asteroid, Phaethon is now classified as an extinct comet. Basically it is the rocky skeleton of a comet that lost its ice after too many close encounters with the sun. Earth runs into a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon every year in mid-December, causing meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini. When the Geminids first appeared in the early 19th century, shortly before the U.S. Civil War, the shower was weak and attracted little attention. There was no hint that it would ever become a major display.
The Geminids are expected to peak just before dawn on Dec. 14, with a predicted peak rate of 100 to 120 meteors per hour.
Streaming: Watch Live Geminid Meteor Shower December 2014
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream