December 13-14 mark the best nights for viewing the Geminid meteor shower.  What makes this meteor shower so special?  What makes it worth going out in the cold of winter to see a few ‘shooting stars?’

A Geminid fireball explodes over the Mojave Desert in 2009. Credit: Wally Pacholka / AstroPics.com / TWAN.

The Geminids are the most intense meteor shower of the year, it lasts for days, and it is known for having the most fireballs. 

According to nasa.gov:

It’s also NASA astronomer Bill Cooke’s favorite meteor shower—but not for any of the reasons listed above.

“The Geminids are my favorite,” he explains, “because they defy explanation.”

Most meteor showers come from comets, which spew ample meteoroids for a night of ‘shooting stars.’ The Geminids are different. The parent is not a comet but a weird rocky object named 3200 Phaethon that sheds very little dusty debris—not nearly enough to explain the Geminids.

“Of all the debris streams Earth passes through every year, the Geminids’ is by far the most massive,” says Cooke. “When we add up the amount of dust in the Geminid stream, it outweighs other streams by factors of 5 to 500.”

This makes the Geminids the 900-lb gorilla of meteor showers. Yet 3200 Phaethon is more of a 98-lb weakling.

3200 Phaethon was discovered in 1983 by NASA’s IRAS satellite and promptly classified as an asteroid. What else could it be? It did not have a tail; its orbit intersected the main asteroid belt; and its colors strongly resembled that of other asteroids. Indeed, 3200 Phaethon resembles main belt asteroid Pallas so much, it might be a 5-kilometer chip off that 544 km.

 

More can be read at the NASA site.  Most folks just want to know where to look:

 

Gemini is easy to find.  Just look left and up.  If you have an iPad, there are star watchers to help you navigate the sky.  My favorite is Sky Walk.   The Geminids often appear in colors and they are slower to cross the sky than other meteor showers.  Fireballs are associated with this show. 

The long and short of it is, most meteor showers come from comet tail dust.  The Geminids come from the debris of a busted up asteroid, Phatheon. 

  

5 Thoughts to “Geminid Meteor Shower Defies Explanation”

  1. Ha, you beat me to it. I was going to email this to you tomorrow.

  2. Thanks for remembering. 2 minds are better than 1 mind.

    Supposedly 120 per hour might happen early in the morning of the 14th.

  3. Darn clouds. Forecast was partially cloudy. For ONCE, I was going to see something.

    Its snowing. 🙁 Stupid global warming.

    This happens to me every time, including times at sea.

    1. @Cargo

      ARRGGHHHHH Every single time it happens!!! I feel and share your pain. What zaps you, zaps me.

  4. Gainesville Resident

    The weather has definitely not been cooperating for a lot of recent astronomical events. For some reason, it is always cloudy right at the time for best viewing.

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