The final weeks of December often offer interesting weather, as does the night sky, which will be a delight for stargazers starting tonight as the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak and becomes more visible.

One of the most powerful meteor showers of the year, the Geminids actually originate from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which orbits the sun, and peak when Earth cuts through the dust cloud left behind by the asteroid. The color of these meteors can range from yellow to white to green.

Unfortunately there is a full moon tonight to compete with the meteors. But the Geminids are known to be quite bright. So if you want to take a look, maybe we can still see some of them in the moonlight. Skies will be mostly clear tonight through Saturday, so it might be worth staying awake or setting an alarm.

“If your sky is clear and transparent, you can still see many bright meteors if you look in a direction with the moon behind you,” says the American Meteor Society.

Typically you can see around 120 meteors per hour, but with the moon almost full this year, up to 15 per hour are expected at peak time, according to the Meteor Society.

After midnight you should notice good activity. Neither telescopes nor binoculars are required to observe a meteor shower. All you need are your eyes. For the best visibility, people should stay away from city lights and give their eyes time to adjust to the darkness (about 30 to 45 minutes).

The Geminids will be visible to a lesser extent until December 21st.

A smaller meteor shower coming next week is known as the Ursids. This is not a meteor shower I would stay awake for, but if you are awake and look outside you can see these meteors peak on December 21st and 22nd. Plus, it’s just before Christmas, so a lot of people might be too busy.

Then the Quadrantid meteor shower peaks shortly after New Year’s Day. Remember that meteor showers are not a one-time, overnight event. This meteor shower becomes active in late December and lasts until the second week of January. The peak occurs exactly when the maximum number is likely to occur. This is another meteor shower that comes from an asteroid. Like the Geminids, this shower can produce up to 120 meteors per hour.

Also in December, the full moon is on December 15th and is known as the cold moon. The following month’s full moon, the Wolf Moon, falls on January 14th.

Planets also become visible in December and January. We start the month of December with a new moon, so it’s a good opportunity to explore the night sky.

In the evening sky, Venus can be seen in a south-southwest direction. It will be the brightest object you see in that direction after sunset.

Jupiter and Earth passed closest on December 6th, but Jupiter can still be clearly seen until early February.

Mars will brighten and continue to be visible in the evening sky as we approach 2024 and enter 2025. It will be brightest in January. The reddish hue of the night sky object makes it easier to spot.

Perhaps the biggest celestial event to kick off 2025 will be a relatively rare planetary constellation. Many of these planets are visible to the naked eye and if you have a telescope you can see them all.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the evening sky at the end of January. With a telescope you can include Neptune and Uranus. Some reports even say that with the right equipment, Mercury could be visible briefly.

You’ll probably hear that January 25th is the best day to see this, but if the weather doesn’t cooperate, we’ll get the views a few days before and several days after anyway.

The long winter nights provide ample opportunity to view our amazing universe above us. Of course, don’t forget that astronomical winter begins on Saturday, December 21st at 4:19 p.m. From this point on, the amount of daylight will slowly increase.