Geminids meteor shower glimpsed in Fairfax County

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - The DMV may have gotten a glimpse of the Geminids meteor shower Tuesday evening. 

Video sent in by a FOX 5 viewer shows several fiery streaks of light moving across the sky over Fairfax County. 

The Geminids shower is one of the best and most reliable annual meteor showers, according to NASA. They are bright, fast meteors that tend to be yellow in color.

The shower peaks in mid-December, when Earth passes through the particles and pieces of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. It's one of the few meteor showers associated with an asteroid rather than a comet, NASA says. 

But 3200 Phaethon is something astronomers are still trying to define. NASA says it could possibly be a "dead comet" or a new kind of object called a "rock comet."

Astronomers say while it has a comet-like highly elliptical orbit, it does not develop a cometary tail when it passes by the sun and its spectra are similar to that of an asteroid so, for now, that's what it's classified as.

The Geminids aren't expected to peak until Dec. 14 but we can start seeing the meteors as early as Dec. 4 up until about Dec. 17, FOX 5's Mike Thomas says. 

At its peak, the skies could light up with as many as 120 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. 

The Geminids are best viewed during the night and predawn hours.