New London police have identified the man shot to death in an Orchard Street apartment last weekend.

They said 21-year-old Quvonte Andre Gray was found in a basement apartment at 4 Orchard Street just after 3 p.m. on Saturday with a gunshot wound to the head.

Gray is from Florida but often visited New London for long periods of time, according to police.

Detectives are looking to interview 18-year-old Jamir Johnson in connection with the shooting of Gray.

Police stressed that investigators only want to interview Johnson. He has not been named as a suspect.

Anyone with information about Johnson's whereabouts is asked to call police at (860) 447-1481. Anonymous information can be sent to police using the New London Tips 411 system by texting NLPDTip plus the information to Tip411 (847411).

Amid sexual misconduct allegations that have rocked Capitol Hill, a generational divide is becoming increasingly evident in Congress. The upheaval has spurred a wave of younger lawmakers to demand institutional reform and call for top Congressional leaders to step down and make way for the next generation.

"Given the current age profile of the Democrats, it seems like there will be a generational shift," Gregory J. Wawro, a professor of political science at Columbia University, told NBC. "That seems inevitable now. To what extent that will bring about changes in Congress or changes in the Democratic Party, that remains to be seen."

While longtime Congressional leaders stumbled over their responses to the allegations that shook Capitol Hill and resulted in three lawmakers stepping down, younger legislators immediately demanded action.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, 52, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, 50, both representing New York, were among the first to call for the resignations of Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Al Franken. Both announced their resignations last week.

In contrast, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, 77, initially questioned the claims made against Conyers after ex-staffers accused him of inappropriate touching.

“Just because someone is accused — and was it one accusation? Is it two? I think there has to be — John Conyers is an icon in our country,” Pelosi said on NBC's “Meet the Press.”

Rep. James Clyburn, 77, the assistant Democratic leader from South Carolina, echoed Pelosi's remarks, initially saying the allegations could have been made up before calling for him to resign. 

Although Pelosi later said she believed Conyers' accusers and also eventually called for his resignation, Rice blasted her response.

“I think that her comments on Sunday set women back and — quite frankly, our party back — decades,” she told reporters at the Capitol on Nov. 29, Politico reported. 

Rice is part of an increasing number of young lawmakers pushing for longtime Congressional leaders to move aside for a new generation of leaders.

“I’ve been vocal about the fact that I think we need new leaders stepping up to offer new strategies and new ideas for our caucus, our party, and most importantly for the people we serve,” Rice told NBC.

Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez, 48, called for Pelosi’s resignation in an October speech.

“Our leadership does a tremendous job, but we do have this real breadth and depth of talent within our caucus and I do think it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders,” said Sanchez, 48.

Pelosi, who has served in Congress for 30 years and has held the top Democratic leadership position since 2003, continues to be a top fundraiser for the Democratic Party. She made history as the first woman speaker of the House and has been credited with shepherding the Affordable Care Act into being. But she has been facing mounting criticism that she is out of touch with younger, working-class voters.

“Pelosi is still indebted to the same cadre of donors and party professionals whose perception of the political dynamics in the country is highly distorted,” said journalist Michael Tracey, who wrote a June CNBC op-ed titled “How Nancy Pelosi is helping Republicans win.”

Pelosi said earlier this year she would have retired from Congress if Hillary Clinton had been elected president in 2016. 

“One of the reasons I stayed here is because I thought Hillary Clinton would win, we’d have a woman president and so there would be a woman not at a seat at the table, but at the head of the table for the world,” Pelosi said in a September interview with The New York Times.

A spokesman for Pelosi said that she has no plans to retire.

"[Pelosi] feels it’s important that there be a woman at the table," Drew Hammill told NBC. "She’s the highest ranking woman in American government to this day."

The age of Pelosi and other Democratic leaders is as much of a factor in the criticism against them as their decades of entrenchment in political institutions.

“Our leadership is old and creaky, including me,” former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, 69, told MSNBC in February.

Hammill said that Pelosi has continuously sought to invigorate younger leadership in Congress and that he sees a disparity between criticism toward Pelosi and toward her male colleagues such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, 76, and Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 75.

The 115th Congress is among the oldest in history, with nearly 35 percent of its members aged 65 or older. In 1981, the average representative was 49 years old and the average senator was 53, according to a report by Quorum, which pulled data from lawmakers’ official biographies. Today, those averages have gone up to 57 years for representatives and 61 for senators.

Democratic leaders tend to be older than their Republican counterparts.

In the House, the average age for Democratic lawmakers in leadership positions is 72 years old, while the average age of Republican House leadership is 48. Three of the four House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and James E. Clyburn, are all in their late 70s.

“The Democrats' geriatric tilt in Congress and their leadership is a handicap,” Robert S. Erikson, a professor of political science at Columbia University, told NBC. “Sometimes I wonder if the Democrats' Congressional leadership is itself aware of the optics of this, whether this is for them a cause for concern.”

Saturday Night Live took on the optics of this "geriatric tilt" in a November skit, with the fake Democratic National Committee touting “fresh new ideas delivered by fresh new faces.”

These faces, portrayed by SNL actors, were some of the party's most prominent members, including Pelosi, “hot young thing” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 68, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, 59, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 76.

Congress needs to adapt to keep up with changes in society, experts say.

“There’s always been a reluctance [in Congress] to change the status quo, Wawro said. “But society is moving very quickly on some of the issues, especially with respect to sexual harassment, and it seems like inevitably the institution will be forced to change, just as the larger society and the workplace that are being forced to change because of increased awareness and victims of harassment becoming more vocal.”

Experts agree that some new leadership in Congress would be beneficial, especially for Democrats.

“I think it would be good if they did have younger members of the party assume leadership positions, assuming those individuals are qualified and have a vision for the party in the current context,” Wawro said.

But he said that the question of whether Pelosi or other top leaders should step aside is a complicated one.

"They got where they are and have stayed where they are for a reason and it’s risky to lose their experience and fundraising prowess if they were to step aside," said Wawro. 

William H. Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, said that although some existing Congressional leaders do have the power to pass laws that would benefit the younger generation, leadership inevitably shifts toward the younger generation over time.

"I do think it would be helpful to have some new blood," Frey said. "And there is some new blood around. From what I understand, there are a lot of younger people who haven’t run before running in 2018 in both parties, particularly in the Democratic party, which I think is good news," Frey said.

Rice is one of the newest members of Congress, having represented parts of New York for just two years.

"When you’re newer to an institution like this, I think you’re naturally inclined to look at the status quo and think about how we can make it better," she said.

Rice and Gillibrand are among several younger lawmakers pushing for reform in Congress in how it deals with sexual harassment claims.

Rice, along with four other House members, two of whom are in their 30s, introduced a bipartisan bill to force the House to reveal the names of lawmakers who have settled harassment claims paid out with taxpayer dollars.

“The American people have a right to know if their tax dollars are being used to protect a member of Congress and silence victims of sexual harassment and assault,” Rice said.

Gillibrand introduced a bill last month that would reform the sexual harassment complaint process and increase transparency. She has previously tried to pass legislation to change how sexual assault allegations are handled in the military.

Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, 47, has been another sharp critic of Congress' handling of harassment claims.

“There is a broken system,” Jeffries said on MSNBC on Dec. 5. “It has not delivered accountability. It has been intimidating for women to come forward who have experienced a hostile work environment or inappropriate behavior and I think our focus should be on fixing that.”

Jeffries, who has represented part of New York in Congress for four years, said that Conyers' decision to retire was the right one and that Congress needs to hold all members accountable to the same standards.

On the Republican side of the aisle, lawmakers have been grappling with sexual misconduct of their own, but are not under the same generational pressure as the Democrats.

Arizona Rep. Trent Franks quit Thursday after complaints of sexual misconduct by two women. His resignation came after House Speaker Paul Ryan confronted him and told him he was recommending an ethics investigation.

Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold from Texas is facing his own ethics investigation, which began in 2015 after a settlement with a former staffer who accused him of sexual harassment and discrimination based on her gender. 

Democrats are quick to accuse Republicans of tolerating alleged abuse. President Donald Trump was elected after he was accused of sexual misconduct by at least 16 women. Trump endorsed Alabama’s Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of making sexual advances toward teenage girls. Moore has repeatedly denied the claims and ignored calls to drop out of the race.

On Monday, Gillibrand joined four other senators calling on Trump to resign over his own sexual misconduct allegations, prompting the president to call her a “lightweight Senator” and “total flunky” in a tweet early Tuesday.

He said Gillibrand, "who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump."

Gillibrand fired back that she would not be silenced by a "sexist smear."

Debbie Wesson Gibson is one of the women accusing Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct. She offered her personal account of Moore in an essay for NBC News' THINK section:

I’ve known Roy Moore since 1981, so perhaps you can imagine my shock when he decided to lie — twice — about not knowing me, or knowing any of the women The Washington Post spoke with in November.

Having claimed no sexual misconduct myself, I simply answered honestly that I had dated Moore for a few months when I was 17 and he was 34. I did not “wait 36 years to come out,” as some people have claimed; there was nothing to come out about, as he dated me very publicly. From the Catfish Cabin restaurant in Albertville on our first date is March of 1981 to my high school graduation night on May 22, 1981 to the kisses we exchanged at the Attalla Country Club pool concession area, there was nothing secret about our relationship. With 180 fellow graduates and a stadium full of family and friends and well wishers, it would be more challenging to find someone in Etowah County, Alabama in the spring of 1981 who was not aware that we dated.

Initially, I merely helped establish for reporters that Moore had a pattern of dating very young girls when he was in his 30's. Note that the age of sexual consent in Alabama has been 16 since 1920. The age of majority in Alabama in 1981 was 19, and Moore’s own legal decisions have contained language in which he refers to 17 year olds as children.

Waterbury police are looking for a hit-and-run driver after a 75-year-old woman was hit and seriously injured on Tuesday morning.

The woman was hit around 6:30 a.m. near Nottingham Terrace and Cooke Street, according to police.

She was rushed to St. Mary's hospital where she is in the Intensive Care Unit with a broken femur, broken hit and a fractured skull.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Waterbury police at (203) 574-6921.

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, is celebrated on Dec. 12. For Mexicans and Mexican-Americans as well as other Latinos, Our Lady of Guadalupe is a powerful symbol of devotion, identity and patriotism. Her image inspires artists, activists, feminists and the faithful, NBC News reported.

“In Christianity, for us, Our Lady signifies a lot,” said Father Juan Antonio Gutierrez of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in El Paso, Texas. “She is the one who supports us, helps us, and protects us.” 

“She has been part of Mexican life for almost 500 years, and that’s why both believers and non-believers respect her image," Gutierrez told NBC News. "Our ancestors are represented through her; she represents us.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe has been a staple in Mexican and Mexican American culture for generations and she has one of the more famous apparitions in the world. 

A San Diego man believes the fact that he was not in the backyard of his home when a small plane crashed is a miracle.

Max Sansa left his Clairemont home for work at 4:13 p.m. Saturday.

At 4:25 p.m., a plane fell from the sky shortly after takeoff from Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.

The plane exploded into flames, killing two people and destroying the home.

The pilots were trying to land in a nearby schoolyard, however, the plane crashed through a fence and skidded into Sansa's yard on Chandler Drive. 

Sansa’s wife and 2-year-old daughter had left that morning to visit family in New York.

“If they weren't in New York, they would be here," Sansa said pointing to the living room. "It's gone. It's all burned."

His friend, Daniel, was staying with him. The two of them had done yard work in the backyard before the crash.

They had finished lunch and were deciding what to do next when Daniel's girlfriend came by.

“They were going to have a nap and Daniel lives in the room where the plane hit,” Sansa said. “But they decided to go to Point Loma for a walk. So that saved their lives.”

The brush with death still weighs on Sansa.

All that’s left of his backyard is an orange tree and part of a hammock.

“We have nothing left,” he said.

When asked what he’s going to do, Sansa suggests waiting a couple of years for the answer.

“I don't know. But I know I have to keep going,” he said.

The generosity of others is part of what keeps him going.

A neighbor stopped by to drop off clothes even during our interview.

“It just gives me hope,” he said.

Sansa says his wife and daughter get back this weekend. Until then he is staying with friends.

The plane, a 1995 Beechcraft Bonanza, was a six-seat single-engine airplane. It was registered to Altitude Aviation Inc., out of Hermosa Beach, California.

On Monday, one of the people killed in the crash was identified as Robert Stelling, 50, of South Hampton, New York. Stelling and his wife were visiting San Diego for a veterinary medicine conference.

Two other occupants of the plane — a man and a woman — walked away from the crash.

An online fundraising page has been set up in the name of Max Sansa. You can find it here. 

Police have arrested a man suspected of breaking into New London homes and sexually assaulting two women in New London and said DNA has also linked him to a sexual assault in Torrington as well. 

Monte Phillip White, 34, has been charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, two counts of home invasion and one count of risk of injury to a minor. 

Police said officers met with the first victim when they responded to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital on Oct. 29 to investigate a sexual assault. She told investigators said a man entered her home at an apartment complex on Hawthorne Drive, threatened her with a gun and sexually assaulted her. 

Police were investigating that assault when they received another report on Nov. 29 from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital of another sexual assault, police said. 

The victim reported that a man entered her home at an apartment complex off of Nautilus Drive with a firearm, threatened her and sexually assaulted her, police said. 

The descriptions of the attackers in both assaults were similar, police said. Fearing they had a “sexual predator” in the city, police issued an alert on their Facebook page. 

Police identified White as a suspect through physical evidence and said he is also suspected of burglaries and narcotic offenses in New London and Waterford. 

During a news conference on Tuesday, police said a similar DNA profile was found in sexual assault in Torrington in April. 

Police said they seized a Mercedes that White was driving. It was black when police seized it, but they said it was maroon or red before being wrapped in black.

White is being held on a $750,000 bond for the New London charges. The arrest warrant is sealed. 

He has been known to frequent locations in East Lyme as well as New London and Waterford, according to police. 

White has an extensive criminal history, according to online court records. 

The NBC Connecticut First Alert Weather meteorologists are keeping an eye on a system that could bring some snow to the state on Thursday morning.

Snow is possible from midnight to 8 a.m. on Thursday with a chance for a coating to an inch of accumulation.  The snow would largely be concentrated in the southern half of the state.

The snow is expected to be light and fluffy.

Given the cold temperatures we are currently dealing with, accumulation is possible on the roads in time for the morning coomute.

One Newington middle student got a birthday surprise this year thanks to his school community.

Ryan Alexander is a special needs student at Kellogg Middle School in Newington and Tuesday was his 14th birthday.

"The school wanted to give back and find a special way to celebrate his two favorite things-- Marty the Lion and anything to do with security and police-- and we gave him both of those things," Principal Jason Lambert said.

To celebrate, the school’s security officer drove Ryan to school.

"Ryan has been asking me for a long time for a ride in my cruiser so I asked for his parents’ permission," Security Officer Wayne Corriveau said. "They said absolutely. I thought what better day than today on his birthday."

Ryan was thrilled.

"He was totally surprised," Ryan’s mom, Amy Alexander, said. "He didn’t know anything was happening. I told him there was a surprise, but when Mr. Corriveau pulled in he was like, 'Guard!' He went right out, jumped in the car and basically didn’t say goodbye to us he was so excited."

The school’s mascot, Marty the Lion, and dozens of students greeted Ryan when he arrived at the school and sang "Happy Birthday" to the teen. 

"If you’re having a bad day, all you have to do is run past Ryan," Corriveau said. "Your bad day will turn into an awesome day."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the United States is open to talks with North Korea without preconditions, saying it is unrealistic for the country to give up its nuclear weapons program before discussions can begin.

"It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program, they have too much invested in it," Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council think tank, NBC News reported.

Tillerson said President Donald Trump "is very realistic about that as well."

"We've said from the diplomatic side, we're ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk and we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson said.

Three more staffers at the state’s maximum security mental hospital have been terminated following an ongoing patient abuse investigation.

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) said three mental health workers with the job title “forensic treatment specialist” were let go Monday.

Of the 37 staffers at the Whiting Forensic Division put on leave during the investigation, 13 have either been terminated, resigned or retired.

The alleged abuse involves a 59-year-old patient that investigators said was kicked, spit upon and even had a dirty diaper placed on his head.

All of it was caught on surveillance tape over a one month period last winter.

The UConn football program will be able to bring back head coach Randy Edsall’s son to be an assistant coach for the upcoming season until the decision of a state ethics ruling appeal is made.

The hiring of Corey Edsall had come under fire from a state ethics panel over the summer, where it was decided that even though UConn had arranged for its athletic director to evaluate Corey Edsall’s performance, Randy Edsall was still in a position where he would be supervising a relative, which is restricted by state law.

Afterwards, the panel, the Office of State Ethics, agreed to let Corey Edsall be the Huskies’ tight ends coach for the remainder of 2017.

However, on Tuesday, a judge agreed that while the Edsalls and UConn appeal the decision made by the panel, Corey Edsall will be allowed to work for the team in 2018. The judge said he would decide the appeal quickly and if he rules in favor of the Office of State Ethics, Corey Edsall would have to leave the Huskies program.

Neither Randy Edsall nor the Office of State Ethics would comment on court proceedings for Tuesday.

Randy Edsall’s attorney said the head coach was prepared to testify on Tuesday, but never took the stand.

This holiday season many of you can’t wait for that Amazon package to arrive at your doorstep.

The online giant, which is building a new facility in North Haven, made a special delivery for families forced to leave Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

“We were looking for organizations that help people who have been displaced and people who are impacted by disaster,” Amazon spokesperson Lauren Lynch said.

The Amazon Holiday giving truck dropped off dozens of boxes filled with $15,000 worth of toys and supplies like diapers, soap and sheets to Junta for Progressive Action, an organization based in Fair Haven that serves the Latino community.

“It is a great pleasure to be among all of you as we welcome a truckload of important supplies delivered to help some of the city’s newest residents,” Mayor Toni Harp said.

Junta has been instrumental in helping about 600 people from Puerto Rico relocate and resettle in New Haven following the September hurricane that ravaged the island.

“We lost everything in Puerto Rico, but my main concern was my child that has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and microphilia,” Efren Perez said through a translator.

Perez and his family were among the first evacuaees to arrive in New Haven, a city that is providing housing, medical needs and public school enrollments for Puerto Rican families displaced from their homeland.

“I just want to thank everybody for welcoming us to Connecticut,” Perez added.

The Amazon Holiday Giving Truck is making 33 stops across the country. Next up, the 53-foot Santa sleigh heads to Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Senators took to social media after Doug Jones was the apparent winner to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, with many Democrats calling it a political setback for President Donald Trump.

"Congratulations to my friend @GDouglasJones. He'll be a great colleague," Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., tweeted. "President Trump went all in for Roy Moore, but proud Alabamians wisely repudiated their behavior."

Most Republicans did not immediately react on Twitter to Jones' win.

When news initially broke of Roy Moore's alleged sexual misconduct in early November, many GOP senators called for Moore to leave the race. But in the final weeks leading up to the election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walked back his original call for Moore to drop out, Trump explicitly endorsed him and and the RNC started to fund his campaign again. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he thinks Jones will be an "outstanding" senator who "will represent Alabama well."

"As Dr. King said, 'The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice,'" Jones said during his victory speech, as he thanked Alabamians. "Tonight ladies and gentleman, tonight in this time, in this place, you helped bend the moral arc a little closer to justice."

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was the only GOP senator to explicitly show support for Jones. Days before the election, he tweeted a photo of a check he sent to Jones' campaign with the words, "Country over Party."

On Tuesday, after it appeared Jones won the election, Flake was the first Republican senator to tweet: "Decency wins."

Here's a look at how members of the Senate reacted to the Alabama outcome on Twitter.

Crews in North Branford are responding to a large barn fire on Mill Road Wednesday morning.

Dispatchers confirmed a fully-involved barn fire.

Police said there are animals in a second barn nearby and crews are concerned the fire could spread to that structure.

Mutual aid and tankers have been called in

No other details were immediately available.

NBC Connecticut has a crew headed to the scene and will provide updates as they come into the newsroom.

A pit bull bit a woman in New London and seriously injured her as she was trying to protect her dog from the attack Sunday morning, according to police.

Police received a 911 call at 6:58 a.m. to respond to Hillside Road because a woman who was trying to protect her dog from another dog was bitten.

Police said the woman suffered a serious dog bite to her hand.

As police investigated, they learned that one of the women’s neighbors was walking his 8-year-old pit bull on a leash on Ocean Avenue and the dog got away and ran onto the victim’s property, according to police.

The victim was brought to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. The victim’s dog was also injured and required immediate emergency care, police said.

The New London Animal Control Officer impounded the male pit bull at the New London Animal Control facility and he remains in quarantine.

The owner of the pit bull was cited for a roaming dog and a nuisance dog.

The allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore and a Democratic surge boosted by high African-Americans turnout led Doug Jones to his projected election upset win in Alabama, NBC News' exit polls showed.

African Americans made up 29 percent of all Alabama voters, and they broke for Jones by a 96 percent-to-4 percent margin. That essentially matched Barack Obama’s performance with African Americans in the state in 2012.

Ninety-eight percent of black women supported Jones, compared with 34 percent of white women. Still, even that support among white women was more than twice the 16 percent of white women who voted for President Barack Obama in 2012, NBC News reported. Overall, 58 percent of Alabama women voted for Jones. 

Meanwhile, 52 percent of voters in Alabama said allegations against Moore were either "definitely" or "probably" true, and they broke for Jones, 89 percent to 8 percent.

Waterbury police are looking for a man suspected in an attempted murder at Willow Street and Woodlawn Terrace around 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 and said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Waterbury police are currently looking for 18-year-old Levar S. Roach and said they have an arrest warrant charging him with criminal attempt at murder, illegal discharge of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment and illegally carrying a pistol without a permit.

Roach’s last known address was on Ridgewood Street in Waterbury.

Anyone with information about Roach is asked to call the Waterbury Police at (203) 574-6941.

A man has been charged with driving under the influence after crashing a car into a house in West Hartford Wednesday morning.

West Hartford police said they responded to the crash at 44 Miles Standish Dr. around 1:24 a.m. The resident reported hearing a large “boom” and finding a car had hit the house.

The driver, identified as 21-year-old Alex Steiner, failed field sobriety tests and was arrested, according to police.

The house suffered structural damage to the exterior and some damage to an interior wall. The lawn, some furniture, and electronics in the home were damaged. No one was hurt.

Steiner was charged with operating under the influence and failure to drive right.

Nighttime sky-watchers willing to brave the cold can look forward to a spectacular display of shooting stars Wednesday night.

The Geminid meteor shower, which returns every December, is widely regarded as the most impressive of the year, according to a NASA news release.

"With August's Perseids obscured by bright moonlight, the Geminids will be the best shower this year," said Bill Cooke with NASA's meteoroid environment office. "The thin, waning crescent moon won't spoil the show."

The dazzling display of celestial fireworks will reach its peak of one per minute between midnight and 4 a.m. local time, Cook reported. He noted good rates will also be visible between 7:30 p.m. and dawn the morning of Dec. 14.

The Geminids are spawned by pieces of debris from the distant asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Every December, Earth’s orbit crosses the asteroid’s and those particles burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, creating a meteor shower that lights up the night’s sky.

This year, Phaethon will fly its closest distance to Earth since its discovery in 1983, according to NASA.

Meteor showers can be seen with the naked eye and don't require binoculars or telescopes, though the best view is from the Northern Hemisphere. Observers will see fewer Geminids in the Southern Hemisphere.

And if you can't make it out, or if skies are cloudy, you can watch NASA's Geminids webcast live here from the Automated Lunar and Meteor Observatory at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, starting at sunset, about 5:40 p.m. ET on Dec. 13.