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Dazzling Spectacle In The Sky

CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) – Be sure to look to the sky Monday night into Tuesday morning for an amazing celestial show.

The Geminid meteor shower will make its annual appearance, just in time for Christmas. Astronomers consider it the best meteor shower of the year, with more than 100 meteors streaking through the night sky every hour.

The peak of the meteor shower will occur during the overnight hours of Dec. 13 and Dec. 14th which is early Tuesday, between midnight and sunrise local time. The show will be best in the Northern Hemisphere, easily visible with the naked eye.

The Geminids are actually rocky celestial leftovers. Every December, Earth passes through this stream of debris from the asteroid-like object named 3200 Phaethon. The meteors, or shooting stars, appear to fall from the Gemini constellation, thus their name.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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