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Baby, it’s cold outside — but it’s worth putting on that heavy winter coat, scarf and boots and heading out for one of the best meteor showers of the year: the Geminids.
The Geminid shower started on Dec. 4 and peaks on the night of Dec. 13-14.
What makes this meteor shower so good is that, under ideal conditions, it can produce up to 150 meteors an hour — and this year, if the weather co-operates, will make for especially good viewing.
“They’re going to be awesome on so many levels,” said Peter Brown, Canada research chair in meteor astronomy and a professor at Western University in London, Ont.
“The nice thing this year is that the peak is on the night of the 13th, morning of the 14th — Saturday, Sunday. So, very convenient.”
Unlike last year, when the moon was almost full and its light washed out the fainter meteors, this year the moon will be a waning crescent and will rise in the early morning (depending on where you are, that could be anywhere from 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.), meaning it won’t interfere with your viewing pleasure.
One great thing about the Geminids is that they produce fireballs, extremely bright meteors that can be seen from a city. But temper your expectations about how many you’ll see if you’re in urban areas, where the number will be a dozen or so over an hour.
If you get to a dark-sky site, on the other hand, you’ll be able to see faint meteors that are obscured by light pollution.
Early-evening viewing
Another special thing about this shower is that it starts relatively early every evening.
Most meteor showers get their name from the constellation in which the meteors appear to originate, called the radiant. Imagine seeing a Geminid meteor overhead: if you draw a line to where it started, it will be in the constellation Gemini.
Gemini rises early in the east, which means you can start your meteor-watching early in the evening. Compare that to, say, the Perseids every August, when the peak viewing time is typically in the wee hours.
And when the moon does rise on the peak night, the radiant will be high in the sky (when it’s directly overhead, we say it is at the zenith), which is ideal for meteor shower-watching.
Lunar impacts
We see meteor showers on Earth when passing comets or asteroids shed small particles as they near the sun. Once a year, the Earth ploughs through that debris, which burns up in our atmosphere and shows up as streaks of light in the sky.
The asteroid 3200 Phaethon is responsible for the the Geminids’ beautiful and reliable light show.
This interactive map shows how Earth passes through the asteroid’s debris:
But this shower has an even bigger impact on our nearest celestial neighbour.
Unlike Earth, the moon has very little atmosphere, so when it crosses the path of cometary or asteroid debris, there’s nothing to stop the pieces from smashing into the lunar surface. There, they can leave a crater, but the size depends on the size of the debris.
When it comes to lunar impacts, “the Geminids are the granddaddy of all showers,” Brown says.
“There’s a campaign by NASA and [the European Space Agency] and a few others to monitor the [unilluminated part of] the moon to really get a handle on how many Geminids, big Geminids hit the moon,” he said.
“… There have been times when people have been monitoring the moon and they’ll see one impact every 20 minutes, which is crazy.”
WATCH | 2 meteors crash into the moon:
This is especially important as humans prepare to venture back to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
Good window for viewing
If you’re clouded out on the night of Dec. 13-14, you’ll have other chances to see the Geminids, Brown said.
“It is reasonable this year to also think about going out on Sunday night, the 14th into the 15th. The rates will still be pretty good,” he said. That’s because the moon will be less illuminated and will rise later.
And, of course, you can always look on the nights before the shower peaks.
Some last tips: Try to sit in a comfortable chair if possible, as, after a while, your neck may begin to hurt. Find as dark a location as you can, and stay off your phone — you want your eyes to be adapted to the dark.
And finally, remember: have patience. You won’t be disappointed.
