SKYGAZERS could be in for a starry treat if the clouds stay away.
A bright display of shooting stars is expected to blast through the skies tonight and into the early hours of Tuesday.
Geminid usually produces more than 100 meteors an hour at its peak[/caption]
And best of all, you should be able to see it with the naked eye if you’re lucky, so no need to worry about binoculars or a telescope.
It might be multicoloured too.
An unusual mix of metals sometimes make meteors appear yellow, green, red and blue.
Geminid is a regular celestial event that takes place every December.
It is known for producing more than 100 meteors an hour at its peak.
Geminid is also particularly bright and moderately fast.
NASA certainly thinks it’s worth getting out of bed to have a see.
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“Rich in green-coloured fireballs, the Geminids are the only shower I will brave cold December nights to see,” said Bill Cooke, lead for NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office.
Aside from pesky clouds blocking the view, the only other obstacle to catching a glimpse of a shooting star could be the moon.
It’ll be almost 80% full as the Geminids peaks, meaning it could hamper its sparkle.
But the moon will set around 3am, so after that it’ll increase your chances.
That said, your best bet of seeing something is by settling on high ground like a hill and somewhere away from city lights.
The source of the shooting stars is a stream of debris left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, meaning this’ll be one of the only major showers not to come from a comet.
Meteors are pieces of debris that enter Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of up to 70km per second, vaporising and causing the streaks of light we know as meteors.
Those unable to take a look for themselves can watch from the warmth of indoors via a NASA live stream on Facebook.
NASA says it’s worth braving the cold for this one[/caption]
In other news, a groundbreaking new face mask that can detect the presence of Covid-19 has been developed by scientists in Japan.
A warning has been issued to Microsoft users after a new vulnerability was discovered that leaves them exposed to hackers.
And Apple, Cloudflare and Minecraft could be at risk from a “critical” security flaw, experts have warned.
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