Our last full moon of the decade will illuminate the skies above Baltimore tonight. It is known as the "Cold Moon" which signifies the colder months ahead along with shorter days leading into Winter. The moon will turn officially full at 12:12am December 12th, 2019. Our forecast look to be fitting for viewing this full bright ball in the skies above. Overnight lows will dive into the 20s and 30s with clear skies above.
Besides the full moon we have the International Space Station making a fly in the skies above Baltimore tonight. The fly by will occur for 6 minutes from the west to southeast in the clear skies above. Start time at 5:51pm and end time at 5:57pm. The next fly by will occur on Thursday for 3 minutes around 5:06pm.
On top of all of this we have the Geminids and Ursid meteor showers over the next few days ahead. The Geminids meteor shower looks to peak this weekend and is one of the better meteor showers of the year. Up to 20-50 meteors per hour can be visible with over 120 meteor per hour at optimum peak conditions December 14th and 15th. Viewing though may be obscured though with a bright waning gibbous moon and another round of rain that is expected in the area.
The Ursid meteor shower on the other hand that will shortly follow the Geminids is a little bit more lack luster. This meteor shower looks to peak around the Winter Solstice December 21st and 22nd. 5-10 meteors per hour look to be visible at peak. Best viewing during the predawn hours from December 17th through the 22nd with a waning moon above. Moonlight will not obscure this show like the Geminids.
Either way sky-watchers enjoy the next few weeks ahead as our final sky show of 2019 does not look to disappoint. For more sky show information check out EarthSky.
