What may be the best meteor shower of the year will occur Sunday and Monday, astronomy professors say.

The peak of the shower will be around 11 p.m. Sunday, and the peak should be broad, so viewers can have a little leeway about when to view it, said Ed Baron, astronomy professor.

The Geminid meteor shower could top 140 meteors per hour, Baron said.

The shower derives its name from the fact that the meteors look like they are originating from the Gemini constellation, said Karen Leighly, astronomy professor.

They aren’t actually originating from the constellation, but because of the motion of the earth and where the particles are in that orbit, our perspective makes it appear that way, Leighly said.

The shower has intensified in recent years, and researchers are curious if the trend will continue this year, according to NASA’s Web site .

Comets leave behind particles of dust that continue to orbit the sun. When earth’s orbit intersects with these particles, they get very hot and cause meteors, Baron said.

“They’re literally little bits of dust, like chalk dust,” Baron said.

The reason we’re able to see these tiny particles is that they are very hot, up to 3,000 degrees Kelvin, Leighly said.

Showers occur yearly because the earth’s orbit intersects with those particles in the same place each year, Leighly said.

This year, the meteor shower appears during a new moon, so the sky should be dark and meteors should be easier to see, Baron said.

“New moon means that there’s no big bright thing in the way that makes it hard to see dim things,” Baron said.

Leighly advises that viewers find a dark place away from lights to view the shower. She also recommends people dress warmly due to the cold temperature.