Week of Dec. 2-8, 2018
They can rain from the sky like fire, and we call them shooting or falling stars. Astronomers know them as meteors, and if you've never seen one, mid-December will be a great time to get out to a dark location and peer skyward.
Why? Because on the nights of Dec. 13 and 14, we'll be treated to the annual Geminid meteor shower.
The Geminid meteor shower is — at least in my opinion — the most spectacular of the year. So why is it that the Perseid shower of mid-August gets all the press? Well, it seems that folks don't get too excited about braving the winter cold to watch a meteor shower. Go figure!
But those who have done so know that it's well worth the effort to bundle up and head to a dark-sky site. The Geminids are known for being quite prolific, typically producing at least 100 meteors per hour. This year, the waxing crescent moon will set in the evening and won't interfere during early morning hours.
Though a meteor appears to us as a star falling from the sky, the phenomenon has nothing at all to do with stars. It is caused by mere specks of interplanetary dust.
The origin of the Geminid shower lies in the dusty debris scattered around the orbit of the asteroid Phaethon. When the Earth plows into this cloud every December, these particles fall into the upper atmosphere at tens of miles per second and burn up. And while most are no larger than a grain of sand, it is their fiery deaths some 50 to 60 miles up that we see as meteors.
This year, the Geminids will peak during the pre-dawn hours of Friday, Dec. 14, but we should see meteors Thursday night as well. Most will appear to originate from the constellation Gemini, low in the eastern sky after dark.
Around midnight, Gemini lies nearly straight overhead, but that doesn't mean it's the place to watch. Meteors will appear all over the sky; in fact, the best often appear about 45 degrees away from Gemini, and if you trace their paths backward, the meteors associated with the shower will seem to radiate from a point (called the "radiant") just west of the bright star Castor.
One of the great features of this particular meteor shower is that it can often produce brilliant fireballs that light up the sky, cast a shadow and sometimes leave a smoky trail behind. You can use binoculars to watch the remains of these trails as they twist and turn in upper-atmospheric air currents.
Watching this great sky show is not difficult at all, and you don't need any fancy or expensive optical equipment to enjoy it. My recommendations are simple. First, be sure to dress warmly and have on hand a thermos of hot chocolate, for example, to make the night even more enjoyable. Next, head out to a dark location far from the blinding lights of cities. Finally, lie back on a sleeping bag or lawn chair and scan the entire sky with your eyes.
Even though it'll be cold, I bet you'll enjoy the rains of fire!
Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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