What is the Geminids meteor shower, and where can you watch it

Source: The post is based on the article “What is the Geminids meteor shower, and where can you watch it” published in Indian Express on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

In 2022, the Geminids will peak around December 13-14, when, with a clear sky and away from bright city lights, one can watch scores of meteors streak across the sky.

What is a Meteor Shower?

Meteors are bits of rocks and ice ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the sun. 

A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid.

Approximately 30 meteor showers occur each year that are visible to observers on Earth. Some of these showers have been around longer than 100 years. 

What is a Geminids Meteor Shower?

Geminids are one of the best and most reliable annual meteor showers. If their peak coincides with the new moon, and if the weather is clear, the Geminids can produce approximately 100-150 meteors per hour for viewing. 

Origin of name: Geminids Meteor Shower comes from the constellation Gemini, from whose location in the sky the meteor shower appears to originate

Significance: The Geminids are unique because, unlike most meteor showers, they originate not from a comet, but from an asteroid, the 3200 Phaethon. 

– Note: The 3200 Phaethon was discovered on October 11, 1983. It is named after the Greek mythology character Phaethon, son of the Sun God Helios. It takes 1.4 years to complete one round of the Sun.