Look Up! Geminid Meteor Shower

In the first part of December, take 10 minutes or so to look up on a clear night. Chances are that you will see a meteor streak across the sky! The Geminid meteor shower is a reliably good meteor shower in December, and is active between December 4 and 17. Its peak is on December 13 and 14, so those nights offer the best chance at catching a few falling stars. 

So what is a meteor shower, anyway? If you would like a review, read this post. Basically, meteors are little bits of dust entering Earth's atmosphere and causing the air in front of them to compress and glow. Not stars shooting through the sky.... but they are awfully pretty to watch.

2013 Geminid meteor shower by Asim Patel. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

How to watch the Geminid Meteor Shower 
If you are interested in watching the Geminid meteor shower, the first step is to find a safe, dark viewing spot. You will want to get out of city lights, and dress warmly. Meteors may be visible as soon as the sky is dark, but peak viewing will be around 2 AM local time. On the peak nights of the 13th and 14th, the crescent Moon will set early in the evening, so we will have fairly dark skies. Cloudy weather will obscure even the brightest meteors, so cross your fingers and hope for clear skies!
 

Click to enlarge. The Gemini Twins are located above and to the east of Orion. Can you spot them? Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

The Geminids are so named because they appear to originate from the part of the sky marked by the Gemini constellation. I usually find Gemini by finding Orion first, and following the line marked by his blue foot, through his belt, through his red shoulder, up to the heads of the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux. See image below for constellation lines.

Click image to enlarge. Orion and Gemini Twins. Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

The meteors will appear all across the sky, but if you traced their paths backwards, they would all point towards the Gemini Twins. Just lay back and look up, and you will see them all over!

Frederic Edwin Church's depiction of a meteor, entitled The Meteor of 1860. Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Predictable meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through the dust trail left behind by a comet. The Geminids have an unusual origin, however. They are the result of a debris trail left behind by a unique asteroid, 3200 Phaethon. Phaethon has a comet-like orbit that brings it closer to the Sun than any other known asteroid, about half the distance from the Sun to Mercury (0.14 AU). Even though Phaethon's orbit is comet-like, it is classified as an asteroid because it is composed of dark, mostly rocky, material. Comets are mixtures of rock and ice. The Earth will be passing through Phaethon's dust trail this week, causing the meteor shower.

3200 Phaethon's orbit around the Sun. Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Good luck watching the Geminid meteor shower this December! I hope you stay warm and catch some nice fireballs. And if you don't want to stay up for hours in the cold, just scan the sky for a little bit after dark. You will probably catch one or two!


By the way - have you heard that Blue Origin successfully soft-landed a rocket on a test launch?! This is a big deal. If companies can figure out how to reuse more expensive parts like rockets, the cost of launches will be significantly lower, meaning more exploration (and probably tourism someday). Check out the video below. 

You can always learn what's up in the night sky and the latest astronomy news at the Peoria Riverfront Museum's Dome Planetarium. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter too!