Posted on 12/09/2019 12:21:02 PM PST by MtnClimber
It's one of the brightest annual displays.
Stargazers are in for a treat this December as one of the brightest annual displays is expected to light up the sky.
The Geminid meteor shower can be seen between the 4th and the 17th of December, peaking on Saturday 14th when around 120 meteors will be expected to be visible per hour. Thanks to the brightness of the individual meteors, it's considered to be one of the best to observe.
"In December every year, the Earth crosses the orbital path of the Apollo asteroid 3200 Phaethon. As the asteroid’s orbit takes it closer to the Sun, the heat damages it producing debris that travels at around 80000 miles per hour until it reaches the Earth’s atmosphere," Anna Ross, Astronomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich tells Country Living.
"These pieces of debris burn up as they pass through the upper layers of the atmosphere (so around 100 km above the Earth’s surface) appearing to us as the Geminids meteor shower."
(Excerpt) Read more at countryliving.com ...
The full moon will make viewing difficult until after the moon sets.
The Moon is in the extreme north, while the sun in the south. So from here on out, the moon won’t set until after sunrise.
So yeah, add this shower to the long list of recent bust
The moon sets about 4:30 a.m. here in Colorado. Should be good in the early morning in Eastern and Central time zones and some of Mountain time zone.
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