The Geminid meteor shower will peak early Thursday; will the weather in Albuquerque cooperate?

The heavens should put on a show this week, weather permitting, when the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak early Thursday morning.

Great balls of fire will shoot out of the heads of Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins.

Typically, the Geminid meteor shower is one of the year's best celestial shows, with peak activity up to 120 meteors per hour, NASA estimates.

The New Mexico weather will be the big variable this year.

Veteran sky watcher Jon Spargo puts our chances at 50-50 that skies will be clear enough for good viewing when the meteor shower peaks between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Thursday.

The National Weather Service in Albuquerque predicts that widespread rain and snow will expand across central and eastern New Mexico on Wednesday afternoon, spreading westward Wednesday night.

Rain and snow will start to taper off late Thursday into Friday, with the best chances of clear skies in western New Mexico, the agency predicts.

"If by late Thursday you see some blue sky, it will be worth going out and looking," Spargo said.

The Geminid meteor shower is active from Nov. 19 through Dec. 24, according to NASA, so meteors may be visible even after the peak.

Meteor showers occur when the Earth plows through the debris trail of a comet or an asteroid. In this case, the origin is the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which has an orbit that brings it closer to the sun than any other named asteroid.

"The key is finding a dark spot," said Spargo, who worked for years at the Very Large Array for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory near Magdalena.

Observers with a clear view of the east can find the Gemini constellation about 30 degrees above the horizon at about 9 p.m.

"There's a simple trick," Spargo said. The width of a fist held at arm's length is about 10 degrees, he said. "So three fists worth above the eastern horizon (at 9 p.m.), you will see two bright stars," Castor and Pollux.

Castor and Pollux form the heads of the Gemini twins. The Geminid shower emanates from Castor, the uppermost star.

For Albuquerque residents, Spargo's advice is to travel to a dark location outside the city limits. For those who don't want to leave the city, the Gemini constellation rises over the Sandia Mountains at about 10 p.m.