This year's greatest meteor shower show tonight
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Dec 15, 2020
The one-of-a-kind astronomical phenomenon will be at its peak on December 13 night till wee hours of December 14 because of tonight is a moonless night.
This year, according to forecasts, it could be possible to see 150 meteors per hour given that the sky is dark and clear. For the Geminid meteor shower will be seen in the sky without the help of binoculars.
Bright Moon isn't very helpful when observing the meteor shower.
Unlike some of the once-in-a-lifetime events like the upcoming Christmas Star event on December 21st, if you miss the Geminids this year, you can catch them again next year, too. "Anytime you're looking at the sky, it's always worth taking a glance towards the north and seeing if there's any of those green curtains starting to form because they can come out of nowhere, be visible and fantastic and then disappear just as quickly". Due to expected rain and clouds Sunday night, the space agency moved the show to Monday.
When is the Geminid meteor shower down tonight in the UK?
So when one of them dives into Earth's upper atmosphere, about 50 to 80 miles up, air friction vaporizes it in a quick, white-hot streak.
Despite the unlikely chance of finding a meteorite, the Geminid shower should be a lovely sight, particularly after midnight in the first hours of Monday morning. No telescope or other optical device is needed.
The Geminids are accessible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from many Southern Hemisphere locations as well. In fact telescopes or binoculars will limit stargazers making it almost impossible to observe meteors. They are visible across the globe and starts around 9.00 pm-10.00 pm. He says, "Meteor showers are special".
The best time to look at the meteor shower for any part of the world is in the late-night around 2 am.
Students and astronomy enthusiasts in Balik Pulau, Penang had one of their best experiences observing the Geminid meteor shower as the environmental condition at the observatory was near perfection.
In general, comets are mostly made up of ice and dust and when they approach the sun, the ice in them melts leaving behind a trail of dust along its path. If the weather in your area is bad like it's been in my hometown lately, there's a consolation prize for us: NASA will share a live stream of the Geminid meteor shower, so we can tune in. Some astronomers consider Phaeton to really be the dead nucleus of a burned-out comet that somehow got trapped into an unusually tight orbit around the Sun.
