The night sky in Ukraine will soon be illuminated by one of the most spectacular meteor showers - the Geminids. The peak activity of this falling star falls on the night of December 13 to 14. Weather permitting, up to 150 meteors per hour are predicted to be visible during the peak.
This year, the peak of the Geminid meteor shower will coincide with about 90% illumination of the waxing Moon, and it will be full just a few days away on December 15th. According to the American Meteor Society, up to 150 meteors per hour can be seen in the sky during peak times, provided there is no interfering moonlight.
Unlike most meteor showers we see on Earth, the Geminids are the product of an asteroid, not a comet. The strong stream produces bright meteors associated with asteroid Phaeton, a blue rock that looks like a comet.
The Geminids are considered one of the best meteor showers each year because the individual meteors are bright and come quickly.
It is known that the Geminid meteor shower is almost 200 years old. It was first seen in 1833 from a riverboat on the Mississippi River. Over time, this rain actually gets heavier. That's because Jupiter's gravity has been pulling the stream of particles from the source of the stream, asteroid 3200 Phaethon, closer to Earth for centuries, according to NASA astronomer Bill Cooke during a "NASA Chat" discussion.
Geminid meteors are best seen from the Northern Hemisphere, but they are also visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
The Geminid meteor shower is named after the constellation from which the meteors themselves originate.
From Earth's point of view, the Geminid meteor shower originates approximately from the direction of the constellation Gemini. The constellation Gemini is quite visible in the night sky, because of it, it is located northeast of the constellation Orion, it is between the constellations of Taurus and Cancer.
But in order to see the Geminid meteor shower, it is not necessary to look for the Gemini constellation in the night sky, since the shooting stars will be visible in the night sky.
The Geminids are associated with the near-Earth object 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid that may have collided with another object in the distant past, creating a stream of particles. This asteroid behaves like a comet and orbits the Sun every 1.4 years. As Earth passes through the debris left behind by 3200 Phaethon, the "asteroid debris" heats up as it enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up in bright flashes of light.
