Night sky enthusiasts are getting ready to enjoy one of the best meteor showers of 2021, the Geminids, which peak from Monday evening to Tuesday morning.
Along with the summer Perseids, the winter Geminids are one of the most anticipated meteor showers of the year, with potentially a hundred or more spectacular streaks per hour shooting across the sky.
The Geminids come from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon that orbits the sun every 1.4 years, scattering bits of itself during its journey. Those little rocks bang against our atmosphere, creating trails of blinding light as they burn up. As Earth plows into Phaethon’s debris field, the resulting meteors all appear to be shooting from a spot in the sky called a radiant, which is home to the constellation Gemini, hence the meteor shower’s name. Other showers come from comets.
While you might get a good look at them tonight, the Geminids in December 2020 provided an unusual spectacle for a lucky few viewers.
Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief technology officer of Microsoft who is also a photographer, asteroid researcher and author of cookbooks, traveled near Pinto Canyon in the Big Bend region of Texas during a particularly impressive Geminid rain when the moon was new. and therefore caused little interference.
dr. Myhrvold built a custom array of four cameras that allows him to capture a large portion of the sky at once, and he used these to record last year’s show. After processing and combining images from thousands of different exposures, he noticed that there were meteors in his photos coming from different points and not just from the Gemini constellation.
“Because it was super dark and I had this special camera array, we captured meteors from six different showers at the same time,” said Dr. Myhrvold.
The other showers in the picture are small showers, and they weren’t near their peaks, so they only produced a few faint meteors. Along with the Geminids, Dr. Myhrvold manages to see streaks from the Sigma Hydrids, the Leonis Minorids, the Comae Berenicids, the Monocerotids, and the Puppid-Velids.
“I expected to see a picture where all the lines came out radiating from one,” said Dr. Myhrvold. “Although there were a lot of Geminids, it turned out there were six radiants.”
It’s very unusual to capture meteors from so many sources at once, and viewers shouldn’t expect something similar this year. But you can still enjoy the show.
How to watch the Geminids
The Geminids peak between December 13 and December 14.
Because of the bright moon, which is nearly full and will be above the horizon for part of the night, the Geminids are predicted to be harder to see than usual this year, with perhaps one meteor per minute in dark sky conditions, said William Cooke, who the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA.
The moon will set around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, so your best chance to see the shower in all its glory is between then and sunrise, regardless of your time zone.
For those interested in seeing the most impressive display, Dr. Cooke to move to as dark a location as possible, away from city lights.
“If you’re right in the middle of Manhattan, go somewhere else,” he said.
Viewers should give themselves 30 to 45 minutes to adjust their eyes to the dark, then lie flat on the floor in a position that allows them to take in as much of the sky as possible. “Don’t look at your cell phone,” said Dr Cooke. “You’re ruining your night vision.”
While the Geminids are from the constellation Gemini, meteors will be visible all over the sky. Binoculars or telescopes are not necessary, as the meteors pass too quickly to be captured in their telescope.
It’s December, so it’s best to pack up and bring a thermos with something warm to drink. “Observing meteors takes time,” said Dr. cooke. “Mother Nature isn’t big on comfort.”
If you miss the peak tonight, the shower will continue for the next few days. Early Wednesday morning is another good opportunity to catch the Geminids.
Photographing a meteor shower
Mobile cameras are generally not sensitive enough to record meteors because the streaks only last a few seconds.
While you won’t get a photo like Dr. Myhrvold, if you have a digital camera you can give your astrophotography a try. dr. Myhrvold recommends mounting a camera on a tripod with a wide-angle lens and then setting a long exposure of maybe 10 seconds. Then sit back, stay warm and enjoy the show with your own eyes.
