The most intense meteor shower of the year is now less than a week away. The Geminid Meteor shower will peak this year on December 13th and 14th (next Monday and Tuesday), producing meteor rates as high as 120 per hour for dark-sky viewers! This alone makes it an extremely intriguing event. Many professional astronomers say it’s their favorite meteor shower of the year, but it may not be for the same reasons as us casual observers.
The Earth passes through multiple debris streams each year on its orbit around the sun. The Geminid stream is by far the most massive, able to produce multiple brilliant meteors per hour. Yet, the actual object responsible for that debris stream is a mere 5 km wide asteroid named “3200 Phaethon.” This doesn’t add up in most astronomers’ minds, and numerous theories have been formulated to address this. For example, perhaps this object is more of a “Rock-Comet”, ejecting dust from its surface as it passes close to the sun? Are there other factors at play that we haven’t discovered yet?
Regardless of the origin, I hope you have the chance (both schedule-wise and cloud cover-wise) to check out one of nature’s finest aerial displays next Monday and Tuesday night. Of course, with our recent lake-effect pattern, I’m worried about cloud cover for that night. But, as is often the case with lake-effect, we may just have enough breaks in the clouds to get a good view. So bundle up, grab that hot drink, and head outside for a little while-you may be amazed at what you see!
