December’s Friday the 13th may be very lucky indeed if “shooting” stars fill the sky. The Geminid meteor shower, the only significant meteor shower caused by debris from an asteroid f rather than a comet, takes place on the night of December 13-14, 2002. This will be the last possibility of viewing a substantial meteor shower in 2002. The best chance of seeing meteors will be from 11 p.m. on Friday December 13 till dawn on Saturday December 14. The peak is expected to occur around midnight.

Viewers in many parts of the mainland had a great Leonid shower on the night of November 18-19, while we saw nothing in Hawai‘i. That Leonid no-show is a reminder that there are no “sure things” with meteor shows—they are at least as challenging to predict as the weather.

Still, there are a few positive signs for the Geminids:

• The moon will set by 2:00 a.m. on December 14, making viewing fainter shooting stars easier.
• The stars will be “shooting” from high in the eastern sky by midnight, making them easier to see. (By contrast, the radiant of the Leonid shower was just rising above the eastern horizon at the shower’s alleged peak in Hawaii.)
• The Geminids have a long peak period, providing a wider window for viewers to see the “shooting” stars.
• The shower happens on a weekend!