Twining of the United States also observed the Geminids that year. 10 & 11 that had a “radiant point perfectly marked between Auriga and Gemini ( Report on observations of luminous meteors, 1862-63: pg. In 1862, Robert Philips Greg of Manchester, England recorded 10-12 meteors “in all quarters of the sky” on Dec. Homann, [17xx) A Short History of the Geminids Systema Solare et Planetarium (Noribergae : Iohanne Bapt. This idea originated with Aristotle’s (384-322 BCE) Meteorologica, in which he proposed that meteors were a form of lightning.Ī map of the Universe. Up to that point meteors (small fragments of cosmic debris that burn up in the atmosphere) were thought to be a weather phenomena. In 1833, the discovery of the Leonids phenomenon in the radiant Leo led to discovery of other meteor showers and also made meteor showers related to the study of astronomy. The new meteor shower will have the radiant point from the constellation Pisces.
The Geminid Meteor Shower radiant point is the constellation Gemini. Meteor showers are named after the “radiant point,” which is the area of the sky where meteors appear to shoot from. If you don’t have a mobile device check out Astronomy magazine’s helpful viewing advice or find an astronomy club near you. If you are like me and you have a night sky ‘app’ on your mobile device, locating constellations in the sky is much easier.
Later at night you may need to gaze directly upward. It will be rising over the eastern horizon around sunset. To find them, look up to the night sky for the constellation Gemini which has two very bright stars – Castor and Pollux – also known as “The Twins.” Gemini will be above and to the left of the constellation Orion. – you can view the Geminids all evening- but after midnight will be the best show. You don’t need to set your alarm for 2 a.m. In case you were wondering, meteors that hit the Earth are called meteorites and, unfortunately, meteor showers do not typically produce meteorites because the particles are too small. This new meteor shower is predicted to produce 10-30 meteors per hour. Another bonus, according to NASA, is the chance to witness a new meteor shower as the Earth passes by debris of the Comet Wirtanen December 10-15. Hopefully, we will have good weather too! And this annual event will be visible both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres however folks in the Southern Hemisphere will see the meteors at a much slower rate. There will be a New Moon (no moon) on December 13, which is an added bonus, since no moon means less light in the night sky. There were will be plenty of opportunities to make wishes this week, especially during the peak viewing time on the evening of December 13 and into morning of December 14 when shooting stars will fall at a rate of 80-120 per hour! You only have a few seconds to make your wish as the meteor falls from the sky and you must say your wish out loud!
4-17, and according to Ptolemy (1 st century A.D.), when there are shooting stars the gods will be looking down on us and listening to our wishes. The Geminid meteor shower will be giving us plenty of shooting stars (meteors) to wish upon from Dec. Have you been wishing for something and it hasn’t come true? Well you are in luck. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Danielle Moser, NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office