The Geminids Meteor Shower Peaks This Week: How to Watch

One of the easiest and most rewarding activities for an amateur astronomer is stargazing, especially when there is a dazzling meteor shower.

This week, the Geminids meteor shower — famous for its colorful streaks of light — is visible around the world during the predawn and night hours.

“The Geminids meteor shower, which peaks during mid-December each year, is considered to be one of the best and most reliable annual meteor showers,” NASA said on its website. “The Geminids first began appearing in the mid-1800s. However, the first showers were not noteworthy with only 10 to 20 meteors seen per hour. Since that time, the Geminids have grown to become one of the major meteor showers of the year. During its peak, 120 Geminid meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions. The Geminids are bright and fast meteors and tend to be yellow in color.”

To view this spectacular natural lightshow, head outside around nine or 10 p.m. to a location away from street or city lights. Bundle up and bring a blanket or sleeping bag, lay back with your feet facing southward and enjoy one of the wonders of the universe.

According to NASA, it takes about half an hour for your eyes to adjust to the dark, but meteors will be streaking across the sky until dawn, so sit back and relax.

“Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from asteroids. When these objects come around the Sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them. Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky,” NASA said.

The meteors actually began passing by Earth in November and will continue through December 24, reported NPR. At their peak they rush by at 22 miles per second.

There is a bonus to this year’s viewing: The moon is just a sliver right now, which means the skies will be extra dark.

“Thanks to a dark two-day old new moon and generally favorable weather conditions throughout the United States, Thursday (Dec. 14) looks to be another great night to catch the peak of this annual meteor shower,” Space.com reported.

If it happens to be cloudy where you are, light pollution interferes with viewing or you’d prefer to stay cozy inside but still see the fantastic display of shooting stars, free online live streams courtesy of Rome’s Virtual Telescope Project and the Slooh telescope network will allow you to take part in the annual celestial event from indoors.

Slooh telescope’s free coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, December 14. The network of telescopes operates out of the Canary Islands and Chile.

The Geminids meteor shower is named after the Gemini constellation, which is the part of the sky — the radiant point — where it looks like the meteors come from. The Geminids meteors are actually remnants of Apollo asteroid 3200 Phaëthon, the orbit of which comes nearer to the sun than all other named asteroids.

“The constellation for which a meteor shower is named only serves to aid viewers in determining which shower they are viewing on a given night. The constellation is not the source of the meteors. Also, you should not look only to the constellation of Gemini to view the Geminids – they are visible throughout the night sky,” noted NASA.

Phaëthon’s highly elliptical orbit around the sun is 524 days, or 1.43 years, according to Space Reference. The asteroid is about 3.91 miles in diameter, about the size of San Francisco Bay.

The group of Apollo asteroids were named after the asteroid 1862 Apollo, which was discovered in 1932 by Karl Reinmuth, an astronomer from Germany.

Gianluca Masi, operator of the Virtual Telescope Project, predicts this year’s Geminids meteor shower will be “a memorable experience. We can expect about 100 meteors per hour,” Masi wrote on the project’s website, according to Space.com.