MENASHA, WI (WTAQ) – The Geminid meteor shower is beginning to light up the night sky, as per usual in mid-December.
Many people call them ‘shooting stars,’ but what exactly causes a meteor shower like this to occur?
“Meteor showers are actually the left over debris from comets. As they around the sun, they slowly fall apart…Every year in mid-December, the Earth passes through this debris field,” said Barlow Planetarium Director Alan Peche. “They’re typically very small, about the size of a grain of sand – going super fast, tens of thousands of miles per hour. [That’s] faster than the international space station does in orbit. And we get to see these every year…They’re moving so fast that when they hit the earth’s atmosphere they start to glow and they get super hot for very short period of time. During that period of time, they will start emitting light and causing a streak…They’re getting incinerated once they make it to our earth’s atmosphere at that speed. A lot like when the space shuttle would come back from a mission, to bottom of the space shuttle would actually increase in temperature and actually be hotter than the main engines were at launch.”
The fact that the debris burns up in the atmosphere, Peche says, is a bigger deal than one might think.
“It’s a great way for the Earth to protect us from getting hit by these rocks. Now granted, these are really small, traveling super fast – but they do get up to probably a few thousand degrees if not hotter,” Peche said.
Even a small piece of debris hitting at that speed could cause significant damage if it were to actually hit the ground.
Although the Geminids can be somewhat difficult to see at times due to their speed of approximately 22 miles per second, the moonlight is expected to be dim, which creates better viewing conditions.
“The Geminids are very popular, and a pretty active meteor shower. If the moon phase is right and the moon is not in the way, just like it looks like it’s going to be this year, if you go outside during predawn hours, you could see a maximum of 40, 50, 60 meteors per hour in short bursts,” Peche told WTAQ News. “Get to a pretty dark sky and at least point away from the city lights and look toward the east. But don’t try to be too specific on where you’re looking…So you don’t need telescopes, you don’t need binoculars – probably just maybe a good lawn chair and some blankets…Every time you get done with a couple meteors, you wait a few minutes and then you’ll see a few more. If you don’t see any, don’t feel bad, you didn’t do anything wrong. But it’s fun to experience.”
The best time for viewing, however, is when you’re on the front side of the Earth as it cruises through the debris. The only time it’s dark and we’re on the front side of the Earth is between midnight and sunrise.
The Geminid meteor shower will likely be active through December 17th, with the peak expected to arrive around mid-Sunday and through the early morning of Monday, December 14th.
For more information about the meteor shower, head to Space.com
Comments