Tonight (between Wednesday and Thursday) the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, the largest this year, is expected to take place. The rain itself began at the end of last month and will reach its peak tonight about two hours after midnight. The name of the meter derives from the group Gemini, the Latin name for a group of twins.
Slates in Israel will be happy to know that the peak of the rain will be clearly visible from Israel, although the moonlight may cloud the visibility. You can also watch nice rates of rain the night before and after the peak.
The best places to watch meteors are of course dark areas – the further you can get away from the bright cities the more meteors you can see. However, even within the city you can see some of the meteors tonight. No need for binoculars or telescopes, you can just look towards the sky – the meteors are visible everywhere.
“Typically, under good conditions you can see 30 to 40 meteors an hour,” noted Robert Lunsford, reports coordinator for the American Meteor Society. The shower that is expected to take place tonight may even reach a rate of about 120 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
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However, unfortunately, there is a chance that most of the meteors will not be visible to our eyes, this is because the moon is expected to shine tonight at “72 fulls”, according to the Meteor Society. “It’s still going to be an impressive shower, even with the lunar limit,” said Bill Cook, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, advising those interested in meteor exposure to find places where “the moon is hidden.”