Tomorrow night is the night to step outside late and look for shooting stars crossing the sky. The Geminid Meteor Shower, the biggest shower of the year, dominates the late night sky this weekend. 

Astronomers are more optimistic this year than last. The moon will not likely interfere with your hunt for even the faintest of meteors. The Geminid Meteor Shower is named after the constellation Gemini. This is where the stars appear to originate. The constellation rises in the eastern sky late in the evening, around 8 p.m. The most ideal time will be looking when the constellation is overhead, but that is 1 o'clock in the morning.

The shower is prolific. We've seen reports of observations being as high as 150 meteors in an hour, but that is too optimistic for here. Still, just seeing a couple shooting across the sky is fun.

We reported about this meteor shower in last week's column. The meteors, small particles of dust and space debris are linked to the asteroid Phaethon. Most of our evening meteor showers are linked to a comet caught in an elliptical orbit around our sun.

We've seen reports that the Geminid shower numbers have been increasing through the years. The most challenging part of watching this shower isn't just needing clear skies, it is hoping that the cold December air isn't the deterent for getting folks to put their winter coats on and go outside.

Even if you miss the shower this weekend, you might see a meteor in the evening in the coming nights next week. This is a big shower.