Up to 150 shooting stars an HOUR to light up the skies as the best meteor shower of the year arrives
STARGAZERS can catch up to 150 shooting stars per hour this week, as the Geminid meteor shower streaks across skies.
The Geminids are considered to be the brightest, and most active meteor display of the year.
The annual event lasts from 4 until 20 December.
But the peak is between Friday and Sunday (13 and 15 December) – this is when you will see the highest number of meteors per hour.
While they are most prominent in the northern hemisphere, the Geminids can be viewed worldwide.
The Geminids often appear multi-coloured – casting white, yellow, green, red and blue streaks across the sky.
The rainbow lightshow is caused by the presence of various metals in the meteoroids, according to Dr Shyam Balaji, an astroparticle physics and cosmology researcher at King’s College London.
“These elements burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating bright and colourful streaks,” he added.
Why can meteors be multi-coloured?
Meteors can turn all sorts of colours when they burn up, depending on what they're made up of.
The chemical composition of a meteor can be the difference of it shining a blue-green, an orange-yellow, and even violet.
If a meteor burns a bright green or blue, it is because it has magnesium inside it.
If it burns an orange-yellow, it’s composition features sodium.
If it’s just yellow, it’s made up of iron.
If it shines violet, it has a lot of calcium inside it.
If it’s red, this is most likely the result of glowing air plasma, or atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen.
How to spot the Geminids
The Geminids can be seen during both night and predawn hours thanks to their nearly 24-hour peak period.
Although they are still visible outside of the peak.
They become active around 9pm or 10pm local time in the UK and the US.
But Dr Balaji suggested going outside a little bit later, for an even better view.
“The best time to view the Geminid meteor shower is around 2am local time,” he said. “When the radiant point is highest in the sky.”
These space rocks appear to originate from their namesake constellation Gemini.
If you can’t find Gemini in the sky, try using an sky map app like Night Sky.
Binoculars and telescopes won’t be necessary, as they will restrict the size of the sky that’s visible to you.
But give your eyes at least an hour to adjust to the dark, so you can see the fainter meteors.
That means putting the phone down.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)