The Geminid meteor shower will dazzle the sky on December 14 – IndoChinatown

Toowoomba (Australia):

Stargazers rejoice, the Geminid meteor shower will reach its peak later this week, and this year’s celestial show is nothing short of spectacular.

Have you ever seen a shooting star?

Otherwise, the next few nights will be off to a perfect start, with the peak of this year’s best meteor shower, the Geminids, expected to occur on the evening of December 14 and the morning of December 15.

While the Geminids are an annual spectacle you can count on, this year is the perfect opportunity to observe them.

Firstly, during the peak of the Geminids, the Moon will still be new, which means it will be below the horizon all night and the sky will be dark – perfect conditions for seeing meteors.

What’s more, this year’s peak rainfall falls right when the Geminids are at their highest point in Earth’s eastern sky, meaning viewers have the perfect ringside spot to enjoy the best natural fireworks display of the year.

For the best views, go early in the morning on Friday, December 15 and take time to relax and gaze at the sky, preferably in a dark place, away from the bright city lights.

See what the views are like near where you live and when is the best time to observe them using the interactive graph below.

Meteors can be seen anywhere in the night sky, but if you follow their direction of movement, they will always point to one point in the night sky – the so-called “radiator” of the meteor shower.

The name of this meteor shower is taken from the constellation where it is located, so the Geminids radiate from a point in the constellation Gemini.

The good news is that the further north you go, the higher the radius of the Geminids in the sky at night, so you’ll get a better view.

From a latitudinal perspective, about 30 degrees north of the equator – very close to cities like Delhi, Osaka and Tokyo – you’ll get an excellent view because in the morning, the Geminids will appear to radiate directly from a point in the sky. above you.

Astronomers determine the strength of a meteor shower by calculating its “peak velocity per hour.”

This is the theoretical number of meteors you can see in one hour if the radius of the meteor shower is directly overhead, you are in a very dark place, with no light pollution or cloud cover, and you have perfect vision.

The actual number of meteors you see will always be less.

The lower the position of the beam in the sky, the fewer meteors are visible. If light pollution is high, fainter meteors will be hidden from your view so the speed at which you see them will also be reduced.

At its peak, the Geminids reached a peak speed of about 150 per hour. So under ideal conditions, when the beam is directly overhead, you can expect to see two or three meteors per minute.

However, remember that meteors are like buses – you can wait five minutes and see nothing, and then three meteors will arrive at once.

The interaction above shows a more realistic hourly rate of meteors you can see at your location as the Geminids move across the night sky.

However, if you view from a location where the sky is light-polluted or if part of the sky is covered by clouds, the ratio is expected to be lower.

What makes the Geminids meteor shower so special?
The Geminids are the most active of all the meteor showers that Earth encounters throughout the year.

Every December, our planet passes through the debris left by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon – a potato-shaped lump of rock and metal about 5 km in diameter, often described as a “rock comet”.

Phaeton moves around the Sun in a very elongated orbit.

At its farthest point from our star, it is well beyond Mars’ orbit, where Phaethon’s surface temperature will likely drop below -100 degrees Celsius.

At its closest distance to the Sun, Phaethon is much closer than Mercury’s orbit, so its surface becomes so hot that temperatures exceed 700 degrees Celsius.

These extreme temperatures are enough to crack and destroy surface rock as it expands and contracts repeatedly.

As a result, Phaethon constantly emits dust – especially when it is closest to the Sun.

Over hundreds of years, this dust accumulated and spread around Phaethon’s orbit, creating a huge dust pipe in space.

Every December, the Earth flows through this tube – and we can enjoy the Geminid meteor shower.

Dust grains from Phaethon hit our planet at incredible speeds – about 34 km per second.

These dust grains carry enormous energy. As they go deeper into Earth’s atmosphere, they heat the air around them, creating spectacular flashes of light in the sky, known as shooting stars, and the resulting radiation completely vaporizes the dust grains, a process known as “ablation.”

A typical meteor, as bright as the brightest stars, may be no more than a millimeter or two in diameter.

Earth first entered the debris left by Phaeton around November 19th and did not emerge again until December 24th.

However, most of this time, the Earth passes through the Phaeton debris rim, and very few Geminid meteors pass through our sky.

As Earth reached the center of the Phaeton debris flow on December 14 and 15 – where the dust was densest – the number of visible meteors increased to a peak.

So, the best time to catch the rain is on the evening of December 14 through the morning of December 15, and the nights before and after will also feature a nice celestial fireworks display.

Tips for observing meteor showers
When observing a meteor shower, comfort may be more important than anything else.

Plan to go somewhere dark – the darker, the better. The further you are from the bright city lights, the darker the sky and the better the image you see.

Try to go to the viewing location during the day or check it out the day before to plan the best spot where you can sit comfortably – and be sure to check for any hazards beforehand.

Once you arrive at your chosen spot, the best way to get a good view is to lie down – get comfortable, because you’ll want to spend at least half an hour, and preferably longer, looking up at the sky.

Bring a blanket and pillow, and remember to bring something warm to wrap yourself up in, even if it doesn’t feel cold at night. It’s amazing how cold it can get when you’re still lying outside in the dark.

Find out where in the sky the radius of the meteor shower will be. For Gemini, look for the constellation Gemini – which is located above and to the left of Orion (if you are in the Northern Hemisphere) or below and to the right of Orion (if you are in the Southern Hemisphere).

Once you find the radiant light, look around the sky in that general direction. Do you see a darker sky on the left side of the beam or on the right side? Choose the darker side and head towards it.

Long experience shows that the best view of a meteor shower is obtained by looking from an angle of about 45 degrees to the left or right of the beam and with the head tilted upward so that it is visible about 45 degrees above the horizon.

Although meteors from a meteor shower can be seen in any part of the sky as long as the radiant is above the horizon, this approach seems to provide the best chance of seeing an excellent view.

It takes 30 to 45 minutes for your eyes to fully adapt to the darkness, so you can see the faintest stars. Any visible light source during this time will reset the clock, so make sure to put your phone away.

Now relax, look up at the sky and enjoy the view.

Professor Jonti Horner is an astronomer and astrobiologist at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. He was very interested in the Solar System, especially the comets, asteroids and meteors found in it. In recent years, his research interests have expanded to include the search for and study of exoplanets.

Originally published below Creative Together By 360 information.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)