Sun rises at 6:33am
Sun sets at 5:37pm
Moon phase: second quarter, waxing gibbous
Moon rises at 2:54pm
Moonset: 2:46am
Meteor Shower Time
Throughout this weekend and on until Tuesday, December 13, look out for falling stars! It’s the Geminid Meteor Shower coming at you from outer space! The moon will be big and bright, about 65% full on Saturday and 100% full on Tuesday, so it’s not perfect conditions, but with cloudless skies, you should be able to see some nice streaks across the sky.
The Geminids are considered to be one of the best meteor showers of the year with typical event rates of as much as 50 per hour. The peak comes Tuesday night – and the best viewing hours are typically after midnight. However, if you’re not one to stay up late, you can still watch during the evening hours. Although the meteors are few and far between at early- to mid-evening, you might – if you’re really lucky – catch an earthgrazer – a slow-moving and long-lasting meteor that shoots horizontally across the sky. (Thanks, Earthsky.org, for that new term – new to me, anyway!)
The Geminid meteor shower is named after the constellation Gemini. The radiant point of the “falling stars” is near the bright star Castor which marks the head of one of the Gemini twins. When the radiant point is near the horizon, the number of meteors you see is few. The radiant climbs highest up around 2:00am, and that’s why you see the highest numbers of meteors around that time. But you don’t need to know the constellation Gemini to see the meteor shower. The Geminid meteors will streak across all parts of the heavens from late night until dawn.
Do you call meteors “falling” or “shooting” stars? It’s okay, I do it too; but they in fact have little to do with stars. Meteors are coming from our own solar system phenomenon; they occur whenever our planet Earth crosses the orbital path of a comet. We, the earth, are like a car driving through a cloud of gnats; we catch a few on the windscreen as we plough through their domain. They tiny particles are debris from the comet and it burns up when it goes into the Earth’s atmosphere. We get the Geminid meteor shower every year in early December. The meteors are pretty fast – slicing through the Earth’s atmosphere at some 35 kilometres – or 22 miles – per second!
Meanwhile in the west-southwest, just after sunset, enjoy the very bright evening star, Venus, along with the less bright and slightly red planet Mars.
In Memoriam
This week saw the passing of one of the greatest among us. Astronaut and senator, John Glenn, was a personal hero and lived a full and long life free from scandals. Married for more than 70 years, he was the first person to orbit the earth, and half a century later became the oldest person to go to space. He had the right stuff in so many ways! What an inspiration and what a life! Godspeed, John Glenn.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
