Where Can You See the Meteor Shower Tonight
The strongest shooting star shower of the twelvemonth peaks this night. Here's where and when to look for the Geminids, and why the annual event still puzzles astronomers.
The strongest meteor shower of the twelvemonth peaks tonight. Here's where and when to wait for the Geminids, and why the upshot still puzzles astronomers. The Geminids, which happen every December, are "one of the best and about reliable almanac falling star showers," according to NASA. Peter Chocolate-brown, an astronomy professor at Western Academy in London, Ont., who studies shooting star showers goes further, calling it the "strongest meteor shower of the twelvemonth." Meteors, as well known as shooting stars, appear as points of light that streak across the sky. They're acquired past dust and pocket-size rocks passing into the temper and burning up. While yous might encounter a meteor whatsoever night of the year, you tin await a lot more during a meteor shower, which occurs several times a year. An early Geminid tracked by a telescope of the Canadian Automatic Shooting star Observatory. Field of view is ane.5 degrees imaging at 80 fps <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Geminids?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Geminids</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/amsmeteors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@amsmeteors</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IMOmeteors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IMOmeteors</a> <br>Credit: <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WesternU</a> Meteor Physics Group / <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA</a><br> Meteoroid Environs Office <a href="https://t.co/zrbiz2k3yw">motion-picture show.twitter.com/zrbiz2k3yw</a> 1 of the best known showers is the Perseids, which happen in August and which many people come across while out camping or at cottages. Just the Geminids produce meteors at nearly double the rate of the Perseids, said Brown. Y'all tin see more than than two per minute when the December meteor shower is peaking. "They final for several days. They're quite rich and bright meteors. They're slower than the Perseids," Dark-brown said. "So as a visual brandish … the Geminids are quite, quite spectacular." And in fact, the Geminid shooting star shower has improved in recent decades, producing more meteors now than in the past, although researchers aren't really sure why. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Geminids?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Geminids</a> are coming... are you fix to capture the about famous <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/falling star?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#meteor</a> shower on camera? If non, find out how ➡ <a href="https://t.co/eCTmdc9blB">https://t.co/eCTmdc9blB</a> <a href="https://t.co/sYxuQxPQLU">motion-picture show.twitter.com/sYxuQxPQLU</a> The Geminids are by and large active from Dec. iv to 17, and this yr's meteor shower is already underway. It likewise tends to be more active before its pinnacle — overnight on Dec. 13-14 this yr — than after. "If people tin get outside any fourth dimension in the next iv or five days, right up to adjacent Wednesday, it'due south definitely worth trying," Brown said. This year, the meteor shower will "definitely be strongest Monday night, Dec. thirteen, into Tuesday morning," he said. Its official superlative will exist around 3 a.m. ET Tuesday. Brown recommends people try to view the shower betwixt 2 a.m. and dawn local time where they are, as the moon sets around then and skies will be darker, making the meteors easier to spot. Ii a.m. is too when the constellation Gemini, where the meteors volition appear to originate, is highest in the sky. Going somewhere night, abroad from city lights, is also ideal. No special equipment is needed; while the meteors will announced to originate from the constellation Gemini, they tin move beyond any part of the heaven, and then all you need is a articulate view that isn't blocked past trees or buildings. Viewing weather condition are, of grade, dependent on the weather, which tends to be cloudy beyond much of Canada at this time of year. Brown recommends trying to run into the meteors during any break in the clouds, or even trying to see them through holes in the clouds, given how active the shooting star shower is. The dust and rocks that cause meteor showers are commonly left behind by comets, which spew gas and debris when their orbit brings them close to the heat of the sun. When the Earth passes through that trail of dust during its orbit, meteor showers happen. Unlike well-nigh meteor showers, however, the Geminids come up from an asteroid: 3200 Phaethon, named after the son of the Greek sun god Helios, every bit its orbit brings information technology close to the dominicus. Asteroids don't normally shed gas and grit similar comets, so they don't usually generate falling star showers. When 3200 Phaethon gets close to the sun, some of the rock itself does vaporize, said Dark-brown. "Just even and then, it currently does non produce much in the way of grit," he said. Information technology's also but 5.1 kilometres in diameter —surprising given the amount of debris it produced, NASA says. Astronomers think the dust and rocks that crusade the Geminids were left behind past 3200 Phaethon hundreds or even a one thousand years agone. "But exactly how, we still don't know," Brown said. It'due south possible that the debris was acquired by a collision, or that Phaethon really is a comet, but now looks like an asteroid because information technology'due south been covered by grit. What'due south more than, it doesn't look like 3200 Phaethon is shedding more material, and then that's non why the Geminid meteor shower is getting stronger. It's more likely that Globe is passing through a more full-bodied part of the droppings. Brown said he and his team are planning to practise some modelling in the next year or so in order to better understand what causes the Geminid falling star shower: "I think it's about fourth dimension we finally get downwards and starting time really working through."What is the Geminid meteor shower?
What tin can y'all expect to run across?
When and where should you lot look?
What causes the shower of shooting stars?
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/geminid-meteor-shower-2021-1.6279722
0 Response to "Where Can You See the Meteor Shower Tonight"
Post a Comment