Behold, the Geminids
One of the year's best meteor showers comes in December. Here's how to view the action
- By Marian Holmes
- Photographs by Daniel Aguilar/Reuters/Corbis
- Smithsonian.com, December 01, 2007, Subscribe
Christmas lights are not the only splashy displays brightening our winter nights. The Geminids, an annual meteor shower, will streak across the heavens in mid December in a light show that promises to be as captivating as store-bought twinklers.
Named Geminids because they appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini, this is one of the best meteor showers of the year and rarely disappoints. To skywatchers, meteors look like flares from Fourth of July fireworks as they arc across the heavens (hence the name shooting stars or falling stars). But that flash of light is actually from the grit and debris in a dead comet's orbital path. When Earth intersects a comet's orbit, it gets hit by swarm of these fast-moving particles, most of them smaller than a grain of sand. The Geminid particles hit Earth's atmosphere at 22 miles per second, heat up to incandescence, and create a yellowish-white streak of light.
"It's a complicated atomic process," says Stephen Maran, author of Astronomy for Dummies, who describes the action as "energizing and exciting air molecules as the particles go by" to create trails of glowing light.
The Geminids shower cranks up on December 7 and stays around until December 17. The meteors start out at a rate of 10 to 15 an hour. By their peak, on December 14, with optimal conditions of a clear dark night as many as 120 to 180 per hour will whiz across the sky. Then they begin to taper off, diminishing in frequency over the next several days.
A patient skywatcher might observe a shooting star on almost any given night, but not nearly as many as one sees during the Geminids, says Robert Bruce Thompson, author of Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders. "In four hours, you might see a dozen," he says. "The meteors are up there, but they're too dim to be noticed." It's the "concentration" that makes the Geminids so spectacular.
"The smallest meteor particles are hitting the Earth all the time," Maran explains. "There are some in your hair right now, but they're microscopic and can't be seen with the naked eye."
Lucky observers might occasionally see a fireball—a pea-to walnut-size chunk of comet dust that becomes a stunningly bright meteor. "Fireballs are rare," says Thompson. "One the size of a large pebble can light up the entire landscape."
Observers all over the world will have an opportunity to see the Geminids. The very best vantage points, however, will be in East Asia—China, Japan and nearby mid-northern latitude countries. The Geminids hours of maximum activity occur when it's nighttime in those regions. That translates to about noon Eastern Standard Time in the United States. Visibility is obscured when the sun is high, but as darkness falls there are plenty of places around the United States to catch the show.
Here are some tips to get the best view of the Geminids:
- The darker the location, the more you're going to see. Head 15 to 20 miles out of town, away from city lights and smog. Pick a high altitude location that has you looking away from the city.
- Turn off white light sources or cover them with red cellophane. Vehicle headlights, cell phones, computer screens, even flashlights are sources of light pollution.
- Leave telescopes and binoculars at home when viewing the Geminids. The high-powered devices will actually limit your viewing because you may be focused on one part of the sky when the meteors streak across another.
- Get horizontal and comfortable. Stretch out on a lawn chaise lounge or a sleeping bag for a good peripheral view of the sky.
- Bundle up. The December air can be quite cold when you're sedentary. Dress as if the temperature were 30 degrees colder.
- Plan to stay up. The best viewing is after the moon has set, between midnight and just before dawn, but you'll see some meteors by 10 p.m EST.
- Be patient.
- Contact your local amateur astronomy club for information about skywatching in your area.
Some prime viewing spots:
- Cherry Springs State Park, Coudersport, Pennsylvania
- Several overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina.
- Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
- Fall River State Park, Fall River, Kansas
- Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
- Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Arizona
- Yosemite National Park, California
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Comments (6)
This was awesome article. I really enjoyed it. I hope you make more!
Posted by Jerry Huchins on December 16,2007 | 11:38 PM
Although the article is accurate regarding meteor showers, the picture is not. The new meteor watcher would be misguided as to how a meteor shower looks like when seeing this -lovely though- picture of a volcano and "meteors". This is actually a long exposure photo of that mountain where stars- and not meteors- are pictured as streaks of light. In actuality the meteors could be seen as a streak (or more) of light at an angle of the general direction of the star trails.
Posted by Adolfo Villanueva on December 6,2007 | 01:26 AM
Dear Mrs Holmes and Star Gazers: I live in Orlando, Florida and of course light pollution is a problem. Suggestion on directions: ACCOMPANYING ANY ARTICLE LIKE THIS ONE WRITTEN ABOVE. I would love it if someone out there(amateur or professionals) would (DEVISE IN A ARTICLE; INSTURCTIONS IN THE WEB SITE ARTICLE-- A tool to be able to enter in your state or zip code and it would automatically tell you in which directions to watch. Also for us "Not so shiney Starwatchers" a way to tell what part of the sky(ie. so many hands high off the horizion at such a time in either GMT time zone or EST zones. Instructions like: Face due north. Point at the horizon of due north with your left hand; NOW TURN YOUR BODY and face straight ahead 90deg due East. Look left, half way between; then at horizion and four hand widths up. Right there the'll be wizzing by! I hope this makes sense and feel free to write to me at DennisDowling@mail.com if you know of this kind of web site. Thanks
Posted by Dennis Dowling on December 6,2007 | 08:32 PM
If you've never done it before, get your loved ones, some hot chocolate, and a blanktet and sit out under the stars on the fourteenth.
Posted by Josiah Johnston on December 6,2007 | 10:54 AM
Public Stargaze rescheduled. The Department of Physics and Astronomy will hold a stargaze on December 12, weather permitting; this is a rescheduling of the event that was recently clouded out. This event is free and open to the public. Telescopes (including the 16-inch reflector, but also including other instruments) will be available on the roof of Rowan's Science Hall from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. to look at various celestial objects of interest. Expert stargazers will take people on a tour of the "naked-eye" sky every 15 minutes. A short instructional session will be held in the planetarium (down on ground floor of the Science Hall) at 8 p.m. If the weather is cloudy (usually defined as one-half or more of the sky covered by clouds), the event will be canceled. The Planetarium is managed by the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Rowan University. For directions to Science Hall and the Edelman Planetarium, visit www.rowan.edu/map. For recorded information about current planetarium shows call 856.256.LITE (5483). To contact our business office, call 856.256.4389. To email the director, use johnsonk@rowan.edu. Our address: Edelman Planetarium Science Hall, Rowan University 201 Mullica Hill Road Glassboro NJ 08028
Posted by Pat Collins on December 5,2007 | 10:48 PM
This is a very well written article and is very informative. I just came out of an Astronomy final and we covered this in that class. The Geminids are some spectacular shows. I've seen them, but my favorite is the Persied meteor showers. I've seen them from the northern part of Maine out on a camping trip dozens of miles from any light pollution. They're awesome.
Posted by Russ McCurdy on December 5,2007 | 03:26 PM