Best Meteor Shower of 2007

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Shower of 2007 Peaks Dec. 13

Best Meteor Shower of 2007 Peaks Dec. 13

Joe Rao

SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist

SPACE.comFri Dec 7, 9:01 AM ET

What could be the best meteor display of the year will

reach its peak on the night of Dec.

13-14.

Here is what astronomers Levy and Edberg

have written of the annual

Geminid Meteor Shower: " If you have not seen a mighty

Geminid fireball arcing gracefully

across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a

meteor. "

The Geminids get their name from the constellation of

Gemini, the Twins, because the

meteors appear to emanate from a spot in the sky near

the bright star Castor in Gemini.

Also in Gemini this month is the planet Mars, nearing

a close approach to the Earth later

this month, and shining brilliantly with yellow-orange

hue. To be sure, Mars is certain to

attract the attention of prospective Geminid watchers

this upcoming week.

Reliable shower

The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of

all the annual showers, even

surpassing the famous Perseids of August.

Studies of past find the " Gems " have a reputation for

being rich both in slow, bright,

graceful meteors and fireballs as well as faint

meteors, with relatively fewer objects of

medium brightness.

They are of medium speed, encountering Earth at 22

miles per second (35 kps). They are

bright and white, but unlike the Perseids, they leave

few visible trails or streaks. They are

four times denser than most other meteors, and have

been observed to form jagged or

divided paths.

Geminids also stand apart from the other meteor

showers in that they seem to have been

spawned not by a comet, but by 3200 Phaethon, an

Earth-crossing asteroid. Then again,

the Geminids may be comet debris after all, for some

astronomers consider Phaethon to

really be the dead nucleus of a burned-out comet that

somehow got trapped into an

unusually tight orbit. Interestingly, on December 10,

Phaethon will be passing about 11

million miles (18 million kilometers) from Earth, its

closest approach since its discovery in

1983.

The prospects for this year

The Geminids perform excellently in any year, but

British meteor astronomer, Alastair

McBeath, has categorized 2007 as a " great year. "

Last year's display was hindered somewhat by the moon,

two days past last quarter phase.

But this year, the moon will be at new phase on Dec.

9. On the peak night, the moon will

be a fat crescent, in the south-southwest at dusk and

setting soon after 8 p.m. That

means that the sky will be dark and moonless for the

balance of the night, making for

perfect viewing conditions for the shower.

According to McBeath, the Geminids are predicted to

reach peak activity on Dec. 14 at

16:45 GMT. That means those places from central Asia

eastwards across the Pacific Ocean

to Alaska are in the best position to catch the very

crest of the shower, when the rates

conceivably could exceed 120 per hour.

" But, " he adds, " maximum rates persist at only

marginally reduced levels for some 6 to 10

hours around the biggest ones, so other places (such

as North America) should enjoy

some fine Geminid activity as well.

Indeed, under normal conditions on the night of

maximum activity, with ideal dark-sky

conditions, at least 60 to 120 Geminid meteors can be

expected to burst across the sky

every hour on the average (Light pollution greatly

cuts the numbers).

The Earth moves quickly through this meteor stream

producing a somewhat broad,

lopsided activity profile. Rates increase steadily for

two or three days before maximum,

reaching roughly above a quarter of its peak strength,

then drop off more sharply

afterward. Late Geminids, however, tend to be

especially bright. Renegade forerunners and

late stragglers might be seen for a week or more

before and after maximum.

What to do

Generally speaking, depending on your location, Gemini

begins to come up above the

east-northeast horizon right around the time evening

twilight is coming to an end. So you

might catch sight of a few early Geminids as soon as

the sky gets dark.

There is a fair chance of perhaps catching sight of

some " Earth-grazing " meteors. Earth

grazers are long, bright shooting stars that streak

overhead from a point near to even just

below the horizon. Such meteors are so distinctive

because they follow long paths nearly

parallel to our atmosphere.

The Geminids begin to appear noticeably more numerous

in the hours after 10 p.m. local

time, because the shower's radiant is already fairly

high in the eastern sky by then. The

best views, however, come around 2 a.m., when their

radiant point will be passing very

nearly overhead.

The higher a shower's radiant, the more meteors it

produces all over the sky.

But keep this in mind: At this time of year, meteor

watching can be a long, cold business.

You wait and you wait for meteors to appear. When they

don't appear right away, and if

you're cold and uncomfortable, you're not going to be

looking for meteors for very long!

The late Henry Neely (1878-1963), who for many years

served as a lecturer at New York's

Hayden Planetarium, once had this to say about

watching for the Geminids: " Take the

advice of a man whose teeth have chattered on many a

winter's night – wrap up much

more warmly than you think is necessary! "

Hot cocoa or coffee can take the edge off the chill,

as well as provide a slight stimulus. It's

even better if you can observe with friends. That way,

you can keep each other awake, as

well as cover more sky. Give your eyes time to

dark-adapt before starting.

Bundle up and good luck!

Online Sky Maps and More Sky Calendar & Moon Phases

Astrophotography 101

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at

New York's Hayden Planetarium. He

writes about astronomy for The New York Times and

other publications, and he is also an

on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New

York.

Original Story: Best Meteor Shower of 2007 Peaks Dec.

13

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