The Geminids, one of the most anticipated meteor showers, are peaking soon. Here’s how to view them.
Next weekend, one of the best meteor showers of the year will peak, but you don’t have to wait. This abundant celestial display actually started on Thursday and will only get better from here on out.
As I’ve often written about meteor showers, they tend to have a slow ramp-up to their peak, followed by a quicker drop-off right after. One of the most anticipated meteor showers of the year tends to be the Perseid meteor shower because it falls during the summer when it’s warm, but the Geminid meteor shower, according to experts, is actually one of the best. If you don’t mind the cold, it’s worth seeing — you can expect 40 to 50 meteors per hour.
Unlike most meteor showers, which come from leftover comet particles, the Geminids originate from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon and were first discovered, according to NASA, sometime in the mid-1800s. Little bits of dust to little asteroids burn up in a fiery display in our atmosphere.
Sometimes you’ll read about a radiant point with meteors, which is the apparent place they originate from, but the reality is that they streak across the sky and you can see them in any direction.
In this 2012 file photo, a meteor streaks across the sky over Springville, Ala., during the annual Geminid meteor shower.Mark Almond
The full moon of last week will be long gone during the Geminids, making for much better viewing this week. There will be a bit of a moon, the waning crescent, the night when the Geminids peak on Saturday (Dec. 13), rising after 2 a.m. in the northeastern sky into the pre-dawn hours of Sunday with about 35 percent illumination.
And those meteors can appear anytime after dark. Experience tells us that most meteors are generally seen after 10 p.m. and until just before it starts getting light.
The Geminids tend to be yellowish in color and are quite bright. In a good year, there can be more than 50 an hour; there have been years with 120 in an hour. This means you won’t have to wait very long to see at least one, and because it starts fairly early at night, even the younger kids can get out to see them.
Of course, the skies have to be clear, but the good news is that since the Geminids have a long ramp-up, if we have any clear nights this week, it’s worth looking outside even before peak. Right now, the forecast looks cloudy, but partly cloudy on Saturday night. But that could change and we’ll have more as the week progresses.
Meteors are certainly fast, moving at roughly 79,000 miles per hour or 22 miles per second. You could be in London in under 3 minutes at those speeds!
Ursids: The other meteor shower in December
If you happen to miss this meteor shower or the weather doesn’t cooperate, there’s another less exciting meteor shower later this month. The Ursids generally peak around the winter solstice, Dec. 21 and tend to get overshadowed by the Geminids and the holidays themselves. This year it should peak on the evening of Dec. 21 to 22, but there are a lot fewer meteors with the Ursids compared with the Geminids.
Nevertheless, if you’re out and about the weekend before Christmas and see a meteor, it just might be one of the Ursids.
Then just after New Year’s, the Quadrantid meteor shower will peak. Remember, meteor showers are not a one-off, one-night event. This meteor shower becomes active at the end of the month and continues into the second week of January. The peak is just when the maximum number will likely occur, around Jan. 3 next year. This is another meteor shower that originates from an asteroid. Like the Geminids, this shower can produce up to 120 meteors per hour.
