NASA’s 5 fun facts about the Geminid meteor shower

The skies will be lit up on Sunday night during the best night of the year’s best meteor shower, but what do you actually know about the Geminids?

The annual shower is active from Dec. 4 to Dec 16. but they will peak tonight and tomorrow.

READ MORE: How to watch the Geminid meteor shower

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In honour of the show NASA has shared five fun facts about the meteors.

1. You can watch the meteor shower from both the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere.
2. Geminid meteoroids are pieces from an extinct comet, called 3200 Phaethon.
3. The meteoroids travel at 35 km/s (not per hour!), which might seem fast, but is actually slower than other meteor showers. They produce bright lights that have been described as green, blue or yellow, as well as white.
4. It’s called the Geminid meteor shower because the meteors seem to be coming from the Gemini Constellation.
5. When first discovered, in the early 19^th century, the Geminids put on a relatively weak show. Now, they are the strongest annual shower, with over 120 meteors per hour.

More information about the Geminids will be available during a live Twitter chat with NASA meteor experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw using the hashtag #askNASA.