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This week is your best chance to see the biggest meteor shower of the year.
Known for its bright, intensely colored meteors, Gemini has been streaming across the night sky since late November, with showers peaking on the night of December 13-14. According to the American Meteor Society.
“If I had to pin one[meteor shower]as the best of the year, it would be Gemini,” says Robert Lunsford, the Society’s Fireball Reports Coordinator. “Usually, you can see 30 to 40 meteors (an hour) in good conditions, for example from a suburb.”
With clear skies and bright lights unobstructed, Gemini can appear at a rate of about 120 visible meteors an hour. According to NASA. But this year you can’t escape the big beacon in the sky that obscures most of the dark meteors. According to the American Meteor Society.
“Even with the moon, it’s still going to be a good shower,” said Bill Cook, director of NASA’s Meteor Environment Agency. , look at the sky away from the moon.”
Hear a loud noise that officials believe is the atmosphere where a meteor hit
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– Source: CNN
First observed in the mid-1800s, The shower initially delivered up to 20 visible meteors per hour. Since then, Gemini has reappeared every year and has grown in numbers. By the 1960s, events outnumbered substance August Perseus, It used to be a strong shower with 50-100 meteor showers per hour.
Cook says it’s unclear how Gemini will change in the foreseeable future, with some models suggesting showers will increase in intensity, while others predict a gradual decline over the next few decades. be.
Gemini is unique in that its source is the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, but most other meteor showers are born from debris from icy comets. That’s why Gemini flows can be unpredictable because asteroid breakups are more difficult to model, Cook said.
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is unusual in its own right. It behaves like a comet when it gets close to the Sun. It also has an orbit that completes about every 1.4 years, making it closer to the Sun than any other asteroid. .
Meteorite lights up Texas and four other states’ night skies
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– Source: CNN
Gemini will be active from November 19th to December 24th. According to Earth Sky, But their hourly wages won’t hit double digits until Dec. 10, Lunsford said.
Showers are known to be family friendly, Suitable for young viewers in North America to observe It is the only major shower that is most active before midnight. According to Lansford, the meteors appear to radiate out of the constellation Gemini.
“You can either look at the time of peak radiation between 1:00 and 2:00 AM (Eastern Standard Time) when there is moonlight, or in the early evening when the Moon is still below the horizon. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Lunsford. “Even at that point, the rates will probably be pretty similar.”
Gemini can be seen from anywhere in the world, but in the Southern Hemisphere, where it needs its highest radiation, it is best seen at midnight local time at 2am. The position of the radiant point will be lower on the horizon, and the rate of meteor appearances will decrease, Lansford said.
According to NASA meteor camera data, According to Cook, the Geminid shower is perfect for producing fireballs, meteors brighter than Venus, and second only to Perseus. The largest and brightest Geminid meteors are often described as appearing greenish.
Moon illuminations have impacted Gemini watching for the past two years, while meteor showers It will occur around the new moon in 2023, Create perfect viewing conditions.
“When you watch a meteor burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, you are looking at something that has been in space for a very long time,” Cook said. “From a scientific point of view, we can learn something about what makes up those comets by studying them. Natural fireworks.
The next and final major annual meteor shower in 2022 will be Urushid, which peaks on the night of December 22nd. According to Earth Sky.
See the most visible fireballs from Earth
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– Source: CNN
