
This week marks the peak of one of the best meteor showers of the year; if the sky is clear, skywatchers may witness up to 120 shooting stars per hour.
Since late November, there has been an annual Geminid meteor shower; the shooting stars will intensify until they reach their zenith on Wednesday night or early Thursday.
NASA claims that the Geminid meteor shower is among the best and most consistent of the year. When the weather is clear and there is no light pollution, observers may be able to spot multiple meteors streaking across the night sky every minute.
According to NASA, there won’t be much moonlight to obstruct the vibrant sky display this year.
Geminid meteors are recognized for their brightness and speed; they can appear white, red, green, or even blue, though they are most frequently yellowish or white.
The majority of meteors seem to be white or colorless, but the Geminids have a greenish tint to them. They resemble meteors. Earlier this month, Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, stated on his blog.
Anywhere in the world can witness shooting stars, but nighttime and the early morning hours are the best times to see them. As the constellation Gemini rises in the northeastern sky, meteors will appear to stream from it.
NASA says that if you want to see the Geminids, you should lie down or recline with your feet pointed south. The ideal location lets you see as much of the sky as possible, away from other sources of light pollution such as city lights.
It’s also advisable to give your eyes about thirty minutes to get used to the darkness. Around 9 or 10 p.m. local time is when meteors will start to appear, but skywatchers who go outside even later—between midnight and 2 a.m.—may be in for a more spectacular sky show. This implies that people in the Northern Hemisphere will probably need to bundle up and get ready for the bitterly cold winter weather.
When Earth travels through large clouds of debris left behind by comets or asteroids, meteor showers happen. These particles vaporize as they enter the planet’s atmosphere and emerge as swiftly moving light streaks across the sky.
The Geminids are remnants of the 3200 Phaethon asteroid, which takes 524 days to orbit the sun. The tiny space rock was initially found in 1983 and has a diameter of about 3.2 miles.
NASA reports that even though the Geminids are at their peak this week, the meteor shower will continue until December 24.