Overall this year has been a tough one for viewing meteor showers. For most of the best showers, the moon has been full or nearly full, washing out all but the brightest meteors or so called “shooting stars.”

Viewing the Perseid meteor shower in August was pretty much shut down by one of the biggest full moons of the year, a “super moon.”

Next weekend an equally great shower, the Geminids will light up our Butler night skies but unfortunately so will a waning full moon.

It won’t be quite as bad as the Perseids because the moon won’t be rising until around midnight. You may see some extra meteors in the night sky this week courtesy of the Geminids, but the peak of the shower will take place Saturday night/Sunday morning, Dec. 13/14, as well as the following night, Sunday/Monday, Dec.14/15.

In the dark countryside you may see more than 50 meteors an hour.

The viewing should be great because the moon will be rising about sunrise leaving the night skies extra dark.

The meteors will seem to originate from the general direction of the bright constellation Gemini the Twins that will be well on the rise after 8 or so. That’s why this shower is called the Geminids because the constellation Gemini is considered the radiant.

Now you may hear that you should look in the eastern sky in the evening hours. That’s a big mistake because meteors can be found in all directions of the celestial dome. Their trails or tails will point back in the general direction of the constellation Gemini. So the best advice I can give you is to lie back on a reclining lawn chair and roll your eyes around the entire sky.

I’d hate to have you miss any!

In fact, meteor shower watching is a great activity for families and groups because with more eyes in the sky you’re bound to collectively see a lot more meteors. It’s worth bundling up with lots of blankets and, if appropriate, snuggling under the stars to stay warm.

Most meteor showers occur when the Earth in its orbit around the sun crosses a trail of debris left behind by a comet.

Most of this debris is minute, varying in size from micro grains of dust to small gravel-like pebbles. They slam into our atmosphere at speeds up to 44 miles a second and burn up due to air friction. They also ionize the corridor of the atmosphere they pass through. In fact, that causes most of the light we see when we wish upon a falling star.

The Geminid meteor shower is unique because it’s not caused by comet debris but by an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon that has a highly elliptical 524 day orbit around the sun.

As it rips along its orbital path it leaves a trail of mainly dust and small pebbles in its wake.

Asteroids are usually thought of as solid rocks flying around in space but many of them consist of concentrated piles of dust that leave a mess everywhere they travel. Some say that they are the litterbugs of space.

So when you’re viewing the Geminid meteor shower you can accurately claim the Earth is getting hit by asteroid debris. Maybe we should call this the Geminid asteroid shower. In fact, you can really stretch the truth and say that an asteroid will hit the Earth tonight. That’ll get people’s attention at the water cooler!

Most meteors in a shower are seen after midnight when you’re on the side of the Earth heading the debris trail left behind a comet or, in this case, asteroid 3200 Phaethon.

However, for this coming weekend’s Geminids I think you’re better off looking from about 10 p.m. to a little after midnight because after that the waning full moon will be whitewashing the night sky.

You’ll also get to enjoy the rise of great winter constellations in the eastern heavens. These include Orion and his posse of bright stars and constellations that surround him, including Gemini. They’re my favorite assembly of constellations, and I never get tired of looking at them.

Along with all those shiners in the eastern sky, Jupiter will be rising high enough after 11 p.m. for decent viewing.

Presently, it’s more than 450 million miles away and without a doubt it’ll be the brightest starlight object in the late night sky this weekend. It’s also the largest planet in our solar system and through even a small telescope you can see Jupiter’s cloud bands and up to four of its moons.

Just make sure your telescope and all the eyepieces sit outside for a good half-hour before you start viewing so the optics can acclimate to the colder temperatures.

Also, the higher Jupiter is in the sky the clearer you’ll see it as it rises above the thicker layer of Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon.

Enjoy Jupiter and the Geminids.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at www.adventurepublications.net.