On Dec. 13 from 9 p.m. to midnight and on Dec. 14 from midnight to dawn, we will be treated to the only known asteroid shower. Officially known as the Geminid meteor shower, it is really an asteroid shower because it is the only shower that comes from asteroid debris and not comet debris.

Face east those nights and you'll see some of winter's brightest stars; the seven bright stars of Orion and the two brightest stars of Gemini, for which this meteor/asteroid shower is named. The time to start watching will be around 9:30 to 10 because the Moon will have set so there will be no moonlight to wipe out the faintest meteors. You may see a few dozen per hour.

Meteors are streaks of light flashing across the sky, which most people incorrectly call shooting stars. It is nothing more than a tiny speck of space debris that slams into our atmosphere so fast that its friction heats up the gasses in our atmosphere and causes them to glow, just like the gasses in a neon tube.
Mars makes closest until 2016

On Dec. 18, Mars will be at its closest and brightest until 2016, and it will still be just as bright and officially at opposition on Christmas Eve. Plus, it won't be this high in the sky again until 2040. In fact, for almost all of December it will be brighter than the brightest star in the sky, Sirius.

Any December night, two to three hours after sunset, face east and the brightest thing you'll see is Mars, which is half the size of Earth. Mars was 242 million miles away 14 months ago. But by Jan. 1, it was 221 million miles away, and we have been chasing it. On June 1, it was 150 million miles away and by the first weekend in December, it will be only 57-1/2 million miles away.

On the night of Dec. 18, it will be at its closest, 54-3/4 million miles away. On Dec. 24 it will be at opposition (directly opposite Earth from the Sun) and thus will be in the sky all night long from sunset until sunrise.

You'll see some of Mars' features with a good telescope. Two Mars rovers are trekking across the surface, taking the best pictures we've ever seen. When I was a kid, we had no idea what Mars' surface looked like. Now we know it has a grand canyon, Valles Marineris, that is as long as the United States is wide. Mars has the solar system's biggest volcano, Olympus Mons. It is so huge it could cover the state of Georgia.

An astronomical holiday gift

Dec. 22 is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and an almost-full Moon be at its closest for the month. Dec. 23, the Moon is officially full and thus has the name Moon before Yule. It will be the highest-riding full Moon until Dec. 26, 2023. On Dec. 24, Mars will be at its brightest and officially at opposition. Watch Mars all night riding across the sky alongside both a full Moon and good old St. Nick.

Jack Horkheimer is executive director of the Miami Museum of Science. This is the script for his weekly television show co-produced by the museum and WPBT Channel 2 in Miami. It is seen on public television stations around the world. For more information about stars, visit www.jackstargazer.com.