Fast, bright and copious, the Geminids meteors are one of the best cosmic light shows of the year — and they’ll be flashing across the night sky this month.
Traveling more than 78,000 mph, the Geminids peak on Dec. 13-14 with up to 120 colorful shooting stars per hour.
“The Geminids are the star of the show for December,” said Kat Troche, a NASA solar system ambassador. “All you have to do is kick back, relax, take your time, and you’re gonna look toward the constellation Gemini.”
The Geminids are an astronomical show-stopper featuring red, green and blue icy debris streaking across the night sky. This year the peak falls close to a full moon, which is not an optimal time for stargazing due to moonlight interference. Sky watchers should still be able to see the bigger, brighter meteors. The first nine days of the month are a good time to count shooting stars. The shower ends on Christmas Eve.
“The full moon makes it so that you can’t see the flood of them that are coming, but bright ones — and we always get them — will shine through. You will see them even with a full moon,” said Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.
The Geminids are the remnants of 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid that takes nearly 17 months to orbit the sun. The meteors appear to emanate from the Gemini Constellation, which is located between Jupiter and Mars.
“A good meteor will outshine everything and it’ll rock you,” Faherty said. “This month we have the beast of meteor showers.”
December is also good for planet-watching. Venus, Jupiter and Mars are bright and visible in the cosmic dissonance.
Just after sunset, Venus will continue to be one of the brightest celestial bodies in the night sky all month long. The second planet from the sun is in the western part of the sky.
In the opposite direction, Jupiter rises around 7 p.m. in the eastern sky. On Dec. 7, the gas giant is in opposition, which means the largest planet in the solar system will be lit up with sunlight.
Jupiter is easy to spot with the naked eye. For a view of its four large Galilean moons, stargazers will need binoculars or a telescope. Binoculars used for birding will usually do the trick. Troche recommends using at least 10×42 mm binoculars, which cost around $45.
On Dec. 14, Jupiter will be next to the full moon and Taurus’ red star Aldebaran, also called the eye of the bull.
Mars will appear a few hours later at 11 p.m. Earth’s rocky neighbor will almost double in brightness over the course of December. It will be in opposition next month.
“Mars will outshine almost everything except Venus, Jupiter and Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky,” said Faherty.
The Amateur Astronomers Association will host sidewalk viewing events in December with a chance to look through telescopes and learn more about the cosmos. On Dec. 8, the group is hosting a special event at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn to observe the sun.
The solar activity that caused the Northern Lights to appear in the city on Oct. 10 continues, and the association will have special telescopes set up to observe solar flares.
“We’ll see what the sun is doing,” Troche said. “Hopefully the sun will have some really nice sunspots for us.”