Geminid meteors Friday and Saturday nights! | EarthSky

Geminid meteors Friday and Saturday nights! | EarthSky


Tonight and tomorrow night – Friday and Saturday, December 12 and 13 – are the peak nights of 2014’s Geminid meteor shower. How fortunate that the Geminids will peak over weekend this year, as the best viewing hours are typically in the wee hours after midnight. In the Northern Hemisphere, this meteor shower often rates as one of the best – if not the best – shower of the year on a dark, moonless night. You can often see up to 50 or more meteors per hour in a moonless sky. There’s a waning moon in the sky in 2014, and it will dampen the show some. But Geminid meteors are bright, and some will shine past the moon’s brightness.


For the Southern Hemisphere: At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the meteor numbers tend to be lower. The Geminids do favor the Northern Hemisphere, where the radiant is higher in the sky. However, this shower is also visible from the tropical and subtropical parts of the Southern Hemisphere. Watch for it this weekend!


Can you watch the Geminid meteor shower in moonlight? Sure. The Geminids are known for sporting respectably bright meteors, so we anticipate on a decent sprinkling of Geminids, despite the light of the waning moon. As a general rule, the Geminid meteor shower starts around mid-evening (at mid-northern latitudes) and tends to pick up steam as evening deepens into late night. No matter where you live worldwide, the greatest number of meteors usually fall in the wee hours after midnight, or for the few hours centered around 2 a.m. local time. If you’re game, you can watch the Geminid shower all the way from mid-evening until dawn.


It’s an open question whether more meteors will be seen before or after moonrise. This custom sunrise calendar will help you learn the time of moonrise at your precise location, on these nights. Be sure to click the option for moonrise/moonset times.


At northerly latitudes, the shower radiant point – near the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini – stays out from early evening until dawn.


If you do find yourself watching in moonlight, remember, you’ll see more meteors if you situate yourself in a wide moon shadow somewhere … shadow of a barn or side of a mountain? If nothing else, use your car! With the moon out of your view, your eyes will pick up more meteors.


The Geminids are a consistent and prolific shower. Although The shower typically produces 50 or more meteors per hour – averaging about one every minute – keep in mind those are the numbers you can expect on a dark, moonless night. Meteors often come in spurts and are interspersed by lulls, so give yourself at least an hour of observing time. Simply sprawl out on a reclining lawn chair, look upward and enjoy the show.


Although Saturday night until Sunday morning will probably present the peak night of the Geminid meteor shower, tonight (Friday night to Saturday morning) might be almost as good. If it’s clear tonight, don’t let your opportunity slip away.


Where do the meteors come from? Although meteors are sometimes called ‘shooting stars,’ they have nothing to do with stars. Instead, they are strictly a solar system phenomenon. Around this time every year, our planet Earth crosses the orbital path of a mysterious object called 3200 Phaethon, which might be an asteroid or a burnt-out comet orbiting our sun. Debris from this object burns up in the Earth’s upper atmosphere to give us the annual Geminid meteor shower. The moderately fast Geminids slice through the Earth’s atmosphere at some 35 kilometers – or 22 miles – per second.


The Geminid meteors are named for the constellation Gemini the Twins, because the radiant point of this shower lies in front Gemini, closely aligning with the bright star Castor. If you trace all the Geminid meteors backward, they all appear to originated from this constellation.


But you don’t need to know the constellation Gemini to see the meteor shower. The Geminid meteors will streak across all parts of the heavens from late night until dawn.
Meteor flying straight from Gemini's two brightest stars, Castor and Pollux, on night of December 12-13, 2012. Photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mike O'Neal in Oklahoma. Thank you Mike!


(photo) Meteor flying straight from Gemini’s two brightest stars, Castor and Pollux, during 2012’s Geminid meteor shower. Photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Mike O’Neal in Oklahoma.


Bottom line: Find a dark sky to watch a seasonal attraction, the Geminid shower, on the nights of December 12-13 and 13-14, 2014. The moon may mildly interfere, but, you will have a window of darkness before moonrise, especially on the December 13-14. The Geminids tend to be bright, so you should be able to catch a number of them, even in the moonlight. The Geminids are sure to add to your enjoyment of holiday lighting these next few nights!