1 week Ago By John Wheeler
FARGO — Tonight and Saturday night is the Geminid meteor shower. Hopefully, the night sky will be clear. Unlike most meteor showers, which result from dust and debris from an old comet trail, the Geminid shower is caused by planet Earth passing though the path of asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
It is thought this asteroid collided with some other space object in the distant past, creating a concentrated path of dust and rocks. The mother asteroid still exists, revolving around the sun every 1.4 Earth years.
The Geminid is one of the best meteor showers of the year. At its peak there may be one or two shooting stars per minute. Your best bet is to get out of town where the sky is very dark.
There may be a few shortly after dark, but the peak is expected slightly after midnight. The full moon will make many of the dimmer meteors hard to see, but the brightest ones will still brighten the skies for a second or two..
