The Geminids meteor shower is active from December 4-December 20, with December 13 and 14 considered to be the best nights for viewing these meteor showers.
- The Geminids are considered one of the best meteor showers every year because the individual meteors are bright, and they come fast and furious.
Meteor showers
- Meteor showers are witnessed when Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by a comet or an asteroid.
Geminid meteor shower
- The Geminid meteor shower is nearly 200 years old. The first recorded observation was in 1833 from a riverboat on the Mississippi River — and is still going strong.
- The Geminids meteor showers are unique because their origin does not lie in a comet, but what is believed to be an asteroid or an extinct comet.
- The Geminids emerge from 3200 Phaethon, which meteor scientists consider to be an asteroid.
- It is growing stronger. That’s because Jupiter’s gravity has tugged the stream of particles from the shower’s source, the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, closer to Earth over the centuries.
- The Geminids, as their name implies, appear to emanate from the bright constellation Gemini, the twins.
(Indian Express)
