Geminid meteor shower to peak this weekend

[December 09, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The year's best meteor shower is coming to North America.

Weather permitting, the peak time to view the Geminid (jem-uh-nid) meteor show will be around midnight Sunday Eastern time when up to 140 meteors per hour could streak across the sky.

Though not as famous as the Perseid meteor shower, the Geminids often put on a more dramatic display.

Geminids are debris from an extinct comet called 3200 Phaethon. The shower gets it name because it appears to come from the constellation Gemini.

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On the Net:

Meteor group: http://www.imo.net/

[Associated Press]

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