We are fast approaching the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, but the days leading up to it might be the best time to watch this spectacular celestial event.
Look up on any clear night this week and you may spot the occasional streak of light flashing by overhead, as part of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Even better, each night, right up until Friday, December 13, the number of meteors we can potentially see from this event is expected to nearly double.
This will all culminate on Friday night and early Saturday morning, during the meteor shower’s peak, when the Geminids can deliver up to 100 meteors per hour.
Dec-13-14-Geminids-2024
The radiant of the Geminid meteor shower, in the northeastern sky, on the night of December 13-14, 2024. The nearly Full Moon, Jupiter, and Mars, will all be visible in the sky during the meteor shower’s peak. (Stellarium/Scott Sutherland)
DON’T MISS: Look up! What’s going on in the December night sky?
However, although this is one of the three best annual meteor showers — along with the January Quadrantids and the August Perseids — this year, the timing of the Geminids peak does not match up very favourably with the phases of the Moon.
To get the most out of the peak of a meteor shower, there are two ideal conditions. First, having a sky free from cloud cover, so that you can see as much of the sky above as possible. Second, having a completely dark sky, without any sources of competing illumination, such as city lights or the Moon.
Geminid Meteor Shower 2012 – Jeff Dai, NASA
This composite image shows the Geminid meteors detected during the peak of the shower in December 2012. (Jeff Dai/NASA)
READ MORE: How to get the most out of auroras, meteor showers, and other night sky events
Even for those who get as far away from urban light pollution as possible, on Friday night, we will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon in the sky, just two days shy of Sunday night’s Full Moon. With the amount of light the Moon will be casting that night, it will ‘wash out’ the sky to some degree, making it more difficult for us to see dimmer meteors. This is similar to the impact of urban light pollution, as the Moon’s light prevents our eyes from fully adjusting to the dark.
One way to compensate for the Moon, though, is to turn your back to it. Since Geminid meteors stream out of the northern sky, turn and face that direction, keeping the Moon out of your direct field of view. That should improve your chances.
However, another way to get more out of the Geminids this year may be to go out to see them before their peak.
We just had the First Quarter Moon on December 8, and we will see more of the Moon illuminated (and thus it will shed more light down on us) as this week progresses.
Calendar Month – DEC 2024 – Moon and Meteors
As the number of meteors ramps up each night, though, there could be a ‘sweet spot’ in the few days ahead. Perhaps on Wednesday night or even Thursday night, the increasing light reflected from the Moon’s surface and the increasing number of meteors flashing through the sky could reach a balance, where we may actually see more of them than will be apparent on Friday night.
SPACE WEATHER: Why are the Northern Lights so supercharged lately and how long will this last?
What’s going on here?
Meteors are produced by small bits of rock, dust, or ice that are swept up by Earth’s atmosphere from space.
These tiny meteoroids are typically travelling at speeds of tens of thousands of kilometres per hour when the hit the top of the atmosphere. At that velocity, they plunge into the atmosphere, compressing the air in their path to the point where the air molecules glow. This is the flash of light that we see in the night sky, known as a meteor. The pressure of the air and the heat produced during the flash can vapourize the meteoroid. However, larger, slower meteoroids can survive, falling to the ground as meteorites.
Meteoroid-Meteor-Meteorite-Fireball-Bolide-NASA-ROM-GoogleEarth-SSutherland
On any particular night of the year, it’s possible to see a few random meteors streak by overhead. NASA estimates that several metric tons of space dust is swept up by Earth every day.
There are times of the year, though, when we see concentrated bursts of meteor activity. This results from our planet passing through streams of debris, typically from comets, as we orbit the Sun. The meteors from each of these events appear to originate from a different spot in the sky, and these are known as meteor showers.
Meteor showers come in different strengths. Weak ones can produce up to 10 meteors per hour during their peak. Moderate ones max out at anywhere from 20 to 50 meteors every hour. Strong ones can deliver up to or even over 100 per hour at their peak.
Each meteor shower is also named for the constellation closest to its radiant — the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate from. In this case, the meteors we are seeing this week appear to streak out of the constellation Gemini. Thus, this is called the Geminid meteor shower.
Phaethon orbit 2022 perihelion – NASA/JPL-Caltech
The orbit of ‘rock comet’ 3200 Phaethon as it travels around the Sun. The stream of debris that produces the Geminid meteor shower follows this same path. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The concentrated stream of dust that causes the Geminids each year appears to come from a giant object in space known as 3200 Phaethon.
While 3200 Phaethon travels like a comet, coming very close to the Sun, and it behaves like a comet, leaving behind debris in its wake, this object is actually a rocky asteroid. Due to this, NASA scientists nicknamed Phaethon a “rock comet”.
Watch below: Phaethon — One of the strangest objects in our solar system just got stranger
Click here to view the video