2009 Geminid Meteor Shower to Peak Tonight
2009 Geminid Meteor Shower to Peak Tonight
December 13, 2009 03:00 PM
by findingDulcinea Staff
The Geminid meteor shower, the strongest annual meteor shower, reaches its peak tonight, with up to 140 meteors per hour shortly after midnight.
The Geminid Meteor Shower
The annual Geminid meteor shower, visible this year from Dec. 6-18, reaches its peak on the night of Dec. 13-14. It will be visible to Americans tonight between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. local time, and astronomers predict it could reach 140 meteors per hour between 12:10 and 2:10 a.m. EST.
The Geminid shower was first spotted in the early 1860s, and it has been growing stronger ever since. Watchers of the meteor shower might be able to see even more meteors than usual this year because during the meteor shower’s peak, the moon will be in the new moon phase and not visible from Earth (and also keeping the sky unusually dark).
The meteors are pieces of debris from a mysterious object called the 3200 Phaethon, believed to be an extinct comet. NASA explains, “Earth runs into a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon every year in mid-December, causing meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini. … Jupiter's gravity has been acting on Phaethon's debris stream, causing it to shift more and more toward Earth's orbit. Each December brings a deeper plunge into the debris stream.”
The Geminid shower was first spotted in the early 1860s, and it has been growing stronger ever since. Watchers of the meteor shower might be able to see even more meteors than usual this year because during the meteor shower’s peak, the moon will be in the new moon phase and not visible from Earth (and also keeping the sky unusually dark).
The meteors are pieces of debris from a mysterious object called the 3200 Phaethon, believed to be an extinct comet. NASA explains, “Earth runs into a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon every year in mid-December, causing meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini. … Jupiter's gravity has been acting on Phaethon's debris stream, causing it to shift more and more toward Earth's orbit. Each December brings a deeper plunge into the debris stream.”
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