The Geminid Meteor Shower is about to arrive with up to 120 meteors an hour expected to fly across the sky, peaking from Dec. 13 to 14, according to NASA.
The shooting star show could even surpass August’s Perseid display. Peak activity is predicted to occur on Tuesday morning, Dec. 14, around 11:00 GMT on Dec. 14, according to the New Scientist.
Geminids take their name from the constellation of Gemini because they appear in this area of the sky.
For keen stargazers, NASA says the best time to view the event is probably between local midnight and sunrise on Tuesday, when the moon is low and Gemini is directly overhead.
“As with most astronomical events, the best place to see meteors is at dark sites away from the light pollution of towns and cities,” a spokesman for the UK’s Royal Astronomical Society told ITN.
Astronomer Adrian West plans to watch the Geminid shower from his “astrobunker” in North Berkshire, England.
“They will streak across the sky and some of them will have multi-coloured tails as well,“ West told the BBC. ”This will be the best meteor shower for the next 18 months.”
Geminids may be the only annual meteor shower created by 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid discovered in 1983. With a one-and-a-half-year orbit that coincides with the Geminids’ appearance, National Geographic says Phaethon could be the source of the meteors.
The shooting star show could even surpass August’s Perseid display. Peak activity is predicted to occur on Tuesday morning, Dec. 14, around 11:00 GMT on Dec. 14, according to the New Scientist.
Geminids take their name from the constellation of Gemini because they appear in this area of the sky.
For keen stargazers, NASA says the best time to view the event is probably between local midnight and sunrise on Tuesday, when the moon is low and Gemini is directly overhead.
“As with most astronomical events, the best place to see meteors is at dark sites away from the light pollution of towns and cities,” a spokesman for the UK’s Royal Astronomical Society told ITN.
Astronomer Adrian West plans to watch the Geminid shower from his “astrobunker” in North Berkshire, England.
“They will streak across the sky and some of them will have multi-coloured tails as well,“ West told the BBC. ”This will be the best meteor shower for the next 18 months.”
Geminids may be the only annual meteor shower created by 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid discovered in 1983. With a one-and-a-half-year orbit that coincides with the Geminids’ appearance, National Geographic says Phaethon could be the source of the meteors.
