This is a guide to seeing the Geminids meteor shower peaking in the middle of December.
Winter with its long, dark nights is great for observing the night sky. Many bright stars, The Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula are some great objects of the winter sky. It also has one of the best Meteor Shower – The Geminids.
What is a Meteor Shower?
A meteor shower Is an astronomical event in which many meteors i.e. dust and fragments of rock in space fall towards the Earth and burn while they are in the atmosphere due to air friction and intense pressure. Meteor showers happen throughout the year but some have higher meteors per hour.
The Geminid Meteor Shower:-
The Geminid meteor shower begins in the winter and is the most intense in the middle of December. It peaks between 13 and 14 December when more than a hundred meteors per hour can be seen. The Geminids get their name from the constellation of Gemini from where they seem to be radiating outwards. The Geminid meteors are actually fragments that broke off from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. As the Earth intercepts the orbit of this asteroid, the trail of dust left behind is attracted towards the Earth which creates a meteor shower. The Geminid meteor shower is the only one that originates from the fragments of an asteroid as other meteor showers happen due to the falling dust left behind by comets.
How to see the Meteor Shower:-
To see the Geminid meteor shower look towards the constellation of Gemini close to Orion which rises after sunset in the South-Eastern part of the sky. This constellation has the “radiant” which is the place in the sky from where the meteors in the sky appear to be originating from. Although meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, most are seen near the radiant. Although some bright meteors might be seen from a light-polluted city, to see the maximum number of meteors in a night, you must get somewhere dark where there is no light pollution and the sky is clear. Then you must adapt your eyes to the darkness and keep your phone away as it can disturb your adapted eyes. To see the meteors, you must look straight up towards the sky and because you will be doing that for a long time you need a comfortable chair so that you can rest your head and look upwards continuously so as not to miss a meteor, as one appears for only half a second before it vaporizes completely. You also need to keep yourself warm.
Fireballs:-
Fireballs are extremely bright meteors that have apparent magnitudes around -3 which can make them them the brightest objects in the sky. They leave their trails in the sky for some time. But they are rare.
Other Things to See in the Sky:-
As you await the sight of a meteor you can see other things in the sky like the seven sisters Jupiter and the rising Mars. As waiting for the meteors will take you a long time, enjoy the bright stars of the winter sky.
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