Grab a warm blanket, lawn chair, some hot cocoa, and get ready for one of the most dazzling meteor showers of the year. The colorful Geminid meteor light show is expected to peak tonight as well as tomorrow night with up to 160 meteors per hour (with the right conditions, of course). Bonus: the Geminids usually occur earlier in the night, so even your kids can watch.

Considered as one of the highlight celestial events every year, the Geminid meteor shower dazzles viewers with a fast, radiant, and bright light show. What makes Geminids particularly attractive is that the show thrives on quality as much as quantity, too. Producing up to 120-160 meteors per hour, many of the offshoot meteors streak across the sky with long, bright yellowish (sometimes green) tails.

To catch the Geminid meteor shower at its peak, experts are forecasting today (Thursday) and Friday to be the best, even though days after the peak activity could still prove to be ideal as long as the expected full moon doesn't affect viewing too much. Ultimately, the meteor shower remains active until around December 21.

Another reason why Geminids is so popular is that it starts early enough in the evening that young viewers have a chance to watch as well. The meteor shower usually begins around 9 and 10 pm, so parents don't have to worry that much about their kids staying up super late, particularly on a school night.

Anyway, if you're planning on catching the meteor show, here are some general viewing tips, courtesy of NASA:

Unlike most meteor showers that have their origins from comets, Geminids comes from an asteroid: 3200 Pantheon, to be exact. 3200 Pantheon orbits the Sun once every 1.4 years, but as the little meteoroids that break off from it come into view around this time, they gain their namesake due to their radiant (the point in the sky where the Geminids appear to come from) seemingly originating from the Gemini constellation.

Photo credits: WikiCommons