Meteor Show Due in Skies Tonight

WASHINGTON — Shooting stars will brighten skies around the world tonight, offering viewers a chance to make a wish in areas with clear skies.

The Geminid meteor shower is one of the year’s most spectacular examples of shooting stars, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, with the best show coming in the hours after midnight.

Up to 50 meteors per hour will be visible if skies are clear, according to the Smithsonian Institution.

Meteors are caused when tiny chunks of space debris, usually no larger than a grain of sand, enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up. This shower is caused by bits of an extinct comet and will be visible all over the sky.