Ready to brave the cold? If you're like us, you haven't wasted an early clear sky morning to get out and see Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard before it heads southward. The coming days offer another early AM celestial sight: the Geminid meteors. To be sure, 2021 sees the Geminid meteors transpire under somewhat challenging conditions. But fear not: With a little planning and patience, you too can witness the "Tears of the Twins."

Circumstances for 2021: First, the bad news: the Geminids peak this year on Tuesday, December 14 at 7:00 Universal Time (UT) or ~2:00 AM EST, just over four days prior to full moon on the 19th. This puts the moon at 80 percent illumination waxing gibbous, meaning there's a narrow window of 'true darkness' between moonset and the beginning of dawn. For example, here in Norfolk, Virginia at latitude 37 degrees north, the moon sets at 2:53 AM EST on the 14th, and dawn begins at 5:37 AM EST just a few hours later.

Through a new 3D real-time visualization tool, you can now explore the asteroids and comets that approach Earth's orbital neighborhood—and the spacecraft that visit these objects—with a click or a swipe. NASA's Eyes on Asteroids brings this data to any smartphone, tablet, or computer with an internet connection—no download required.

Thousands of asteroids and dozens of comets are discovered every single year, some of which—called near-Earth objects (NEOs)—follow orbits that pass through the inner solar system.