Mark your calendar for the strongest meteor shower of the year

CNN — The best chance to see the strongest meteor shower of the year is on its way this week.

The Geminids, known for bright, intensely colored meteors, have been streaking across the night sky since late November, and the shower will peak the night of December 13 through December 14, according to the American Meteor Society.

“If you had to pin one (meteor shower) as being the best of the year, year in and year out, it would be the Geminids,” said Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator for the society. “Normally, from let’s say the suburban area, under good conditions, you could probably see 30 to 40 meteors (an hour).”

With clear skies and no bright lights in the way, the Geminids can appear at a rate of about 120 visible meteors an hour, according to NASA. However, there is no escape from the big beacon in the sky that will obscure most of the fainter meteors this year: The moon will be shining at 72% fullness, according to the American Meteor Society.

“It is still going to be a good shower, even with the moon,” said Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “Find a decently dark sky, find something that will block the moon, maybe a building or a tree, and look away from the moon at the sky.”