Astronomy Buff

Why The Geminids are Usually the Best Meteor Shower of the Year

by Tony on December 13th, 2007

I just read this good New Scientist article on the Geminids and it inspired a few thoughts of my own.

Reminder: this starts tonight around 10pm in the U.S. (give or take a couple of hours, just make sure you’re out by midnight).

The Geminids are among the best meteor showers for two main reasons: the time of year they occur and the source of material that falls through the atmosphere during one.

The Geminid Meteor shower occurs as a result of the Earth traveling through a path of particles, mostly rocks and pebbles, that follow 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid discovered in 1983 by a NASA infrared telescope.

This makes the Geminids a little different from, say, the Perseids or the Aurigids because those meteor showers result from the Earth passing through a comet’s debris field. The rocks from 3200 Phaethon are larger and burn up really nicely when they hit our atmosphere, making the resulting fireballs quite memorable.

The time of year helps the Geminids too. The cold, dark nights of December offer really crisp, clear skies in the northern hemisphere, but this also means the chances of getting clouded-out increase (like they almost certainly will where I am right now - sigh).

Another thing going for this year’s shower will be the fact that the moon will be a thin crescent, so the light reflecting off of it will not brighten the sky. Tonight should be dark, clear and… cold. Don’t forget that sleeping bag.

Here’s another good tidbit from NASA about the Geminids.

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POSTED IN: observing the night sky