Posted on 12/12/2007 4:56:00 PM PST by RDTF
The Geminid meteor shower—considered by many to be the most active annual sky show—is going to be especially spectacular this year, astronomers predict.
The show gets its name from the constellation Gemini, because the meteors appear to stream from near the constellation's bright star Castor.
Unlike last year, the Geminids will be falling against a dark, moonless night.
The last time the sky was this dark during the shower was in 1996, when observers saw up to 110 meteors an hour.
Experts say the rate will be at least that high this year, with peak viewing on December 13 and 14.
"Since the August Perseid shower has been declining the last couple of decades, the Geminids are now the best annual meteor shower," said Brian Skiff, a researcher at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
(Related: "Perseid Meteor Shower to Peak This Weekend" [August 10, 2007].)
And this year the meteors will be joined by an exceptionally bright Mars visible in Gemini. The planet will be gleaming yellow-orange as it nears a close approach to Earth.
Weird Source
Most annual meteor showers occur when Earth passes through fields of debris left behind by orbiting comets. Researchers can therefore tie a particular shower to a known comet.
Although the Geminids were first noticed in the mid-1800s, scientists didn't locate their source until 1983.
Co-discoverers Simon Green, now at the Open University in the United Kingdom, and John Davies, now at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, pinned the yearly show to a mysterious object called 3200 Phaethon.
At first astronomers were not sure if the object was an asteroid or a comet.
Asteroids are conventionally thought to form from rock in the warmer, inner areas of the solar system, while comets are made of rock and ice in colder, more distant regions.
On the surface 3200 Phaethon looks like a rocky asteroid. But an asteroid that creates meteor showers like a comet would be an extremely rare find.
Most astronomers now believe the Geminids' source is an extinct comet thats collected a thick outer layer of interplanetary dust—a comet in an asteroid's clothes.
Best Seats
The Geminid shower wasn't always such a spectacular show. Viewers of its first appearance more than a century ago recorded only 10 to 20 meteors an hour.
What's more, the Geminids approach Earth at the relatively slow speed of 22 miles (35 kilometers) a second.
By comparison, November's annual Leonid shower speeds through our atmosphere at about 44 miles (71 kilometers) a second.
But the December display has been increasingly outcompeting all other yearly meteor showers, experts say.
The best places to watch will be in central Asia and eastward, across the Pacific Ocean to Alaska.
Stellar performances will be visible six to ten hours around the precise peak on December 14 at 11:45 a.m. EST, astronomers say, so stargazers in North America will get almost as good a show.
As for 3200 Phaethon's co-discoverer Green, he says cloudy skies over the U.K. have prevented him from seeing the Geminids in most years.
When he does catch a glimpse, he said, "I just stand and watch and think of the little bits of 'my' asteroid that are burning up in the skies above."
ping
The Geminids have been running for a couple weeks already. The swarm must be spread out a lot, or this display is going to be massive.
Wow! I may actually get a glimpse as it will be clear tomorrow night
wish I was on the west coast :(
We’re socked in, have been socked in for several days. There have been only a few decent night sky nights, which is entirely normal, but the last one a week ago there were a couple meteors radiating out of Gemini while I was looking for comet Holmes, and the comet was still visible.
Bump for more info about west coast (northern Az) viewing.
Let’s hope one of them isn’t named Wormwood.
I saw a very nice one tonight about 8:30 PM in Albuquerque, but I don’t know if it was a Geminid. Didn’t seem to be radiating from the right spot.
Cool.
Too many lights near this power plant to see very clearly though.
Not so cool.
Many clouds this area.
Even less cool.
If it is I think we all have.
Huh.
Every year they say the Aug show is going to be great we lost interest.
It was a great 20yrs ago.
Now the Dec. show is the one that is goig to be the really big show.
Hmm I have to take the garbedge out to the end of the drive tonight so I will look towards Mars.
I went out around 8pm and the sky was crystal clear. So I will bundle up and brave the 34 degree weather to take the garbedge cart out.
Then look up out over the PNW coastal skies.
It just so dang cold.brrrrrr and the stupids nocturnal rats.
There are many different meteor showers radiating from different regions. There could be two or more going on at once. While one that clearly came out of the Gemini constellation flashed very fast and white across half the sky, another one kind of yellow and slow came at a different angle from the same region of the sky but could not possibly be of the same group since the speed was so different. Then too there are objects falling out of orbit such as the booster from one of last weekend’s polar orbit launches. It’s getting very busy up there; seems like there is always something flying around anymore.
THANKS for the heads up! We have been sitting outside on the chaise lounge chairs with the binoculars gazing at Holmes comet. It always makes me feel so small and unimportant, but it makes me believe in a creator who made all this and who loves me, and that builds me up again!
be sure and tell us about it!
Visible in Atlanta metro - barely. Meteors bright but very sparse - only 3-4 in half an hour. Even my deer hunting clothes were not really warm enough to sit still on a chaise lounge in 15 degree cold with a wind for very long. Part of the problem here is all the skyglow - I’m sure we can only see the brightest ones. But the constellation Gemini is directly overhead right now - as good as it’s going to get here.
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