Two celestial spectacles will be competing for your eyeballs this weekend. The Geminids Meteor Shower began peaking on Friday with more meteors expected to fall Saturday evening. They were first observed in 1862 and originate from an asteroid rather a comet like other meteor showers, and at its peak can produce 120-160 meteors an hour. That situation is not expected tonight as the night sky will be lit up with the last full moon of 2024, called the “Cold Moon.”
You’ll likely see some meteors if you keep your back to the moon and let your eyes adjust – however the amount of light that a desert full moon throws out can wash out some of the dimmer meteors, making viewing this year a little more difficult.
The Geminids may still be visible Sunday night and will have almost completely faded out by Monday.
The annual event should be better viewing next year when there isn’t such stiff competition for dark skies.
