Fleeting Light: The High Desert and the Geminid Meteor Shower from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the annual display is called the Geminids because the meteors appear to be emitted from the constellation Gemini. 

And according to Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, some lucky stargazers might still get a good view of the meteorites, what people sometimes call "shooting stars."

"Observers with clear skies could see as many as 40 Geminids per hour," Cooke said in a statement from NASA. "Our all-sky network of meteor cameras has captured several early Geminid fireballs. They were so bright, we could see them despite the moonlight."

NASA says that the best time to view meteors will be overnight, after 10 p.m. local time and before sunrise on Wednesday.