How to watch the Geminids meteor shower that will release 120 shooting stars per hour on Friday the 13th

On Friday the 13th, a spectacular meteor shower reaches its peak, producing up to 120 shooting stars per hour under perfect viewing conditions.

The Geminids are among the best and most reliable meteor showers that dazzle the night sky every year. But that’s not the only thing that makes them unique.

They are also one of the few large meteor showers that come from asteroids, which have a different chemical composition than comets.

Due to their origin, the shooting stars often look bright yellow or green as they streak across the sky.

The shower could even produce some “fireballs,” or shooting stars brighter than Venus, making them visible even from light-polluted cities.

Although the best chance to see them is on December 13, they should remain visible until December 21.

If you live in a city or other densely populated area, you may want to consider a more rural viewing location, as light pollution can obscure the show.

Choose a location that gives you a wide view of the night sky, unobstructed by trees, buildings or other objects.

When watching, try to avoid looking at your phone or other light sources, as you are more likely to see shooting stars when your eyes have adapted to the darkness.

However, the moon’s light will likely dampen their visibility as it will be full or nearly full for most of this period.

That means only about 15 meteors per hour are expected this year during peak hours, according to the American Meteor Society.

To see the most meteors possible, look for them during the darkest time of the night – between midnight and the early morning hours.

The Geminids are so called because they appear to come from the constellation Gemini. If you look at that group of stars, you will find the point where the meteor shower originates, also called the “radiation point.”

That point is near the bright star Castor in Gemini, Shyam Balaji, a researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, said. Forbes.

Gemini is currently located to the upper left of Orion. To find it, look for the three stars that make up Orion’s belt.

But you don’t have to be fixated on this point all the time. Although it may seem like the Geminids originate from there, meteors can appear anywhere in the night sky.

In general, you should be able to see them if you look east and aim your gaze about halfway across the sky.

The Geminids are one of the few major meteor showers that come from asteroids. These meteors are debris from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which orbits the sun once every 1.4 years.

The Geminids meteor shower is visible around the world, so sky watchers in the US should have a chance to see shooting stars this weekend through next week.

But don’t worry if you miss them. The next meteor shower, the Ursids, will peak on December 22, the day after the Geminids disappear from view.

Unlike most meteor showers that come from comets, the Geminids come from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon, according to NASA.

This almost six kilometer wide space rock orbits the sun once every 1.4 years. As he travels through space, he leaves behind a cloud of debris.

When Earth’s orbit passes through this debris, the asteroid chunks burn up in our planet’s atmosphere, creating a meteor shower.

While burning, the Geminids often shine yellow or green due to the chemical composition of their unusual source material. A yellow shade means sodium or iron, while blue-green indicates magnesium.

Although this meteor shower is one of the most brilliant annual astronomical events today, that wasn’t always the case.

The Geminids first appeared in the mid-1800s, but according to NASA, the first showers produced only 10 to 20 meteors per hour.

Over time, this meteor shower produced more and more shooting stars as the cloud of debris produced by 3200 Phaethon grew denser, causing Earth to experience an increasing number of meteors each year as it passed through the debris cloud.