By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 12:03 EST, 11 December 2024 | Updated: 12:27 EST, 11 December 2024
A spectacular meteor shower will peak on Friday the 13th, producing up to 120 shooting stars per hour under perfect viewing conditions.
The Geminids are among the best and most reliable meteor showers that dazzle the night sky each year. But that's not all that makes them unique.
They are also one of the few major meteor showers to hail from asteroids, which have different chemical compositions from comets.
Due to its origins, the shooting stars often appear bright yellow or green as they streak across the sky.
The shower could even produce some 'fireballs,' or shooting stars brighter than Venus, allowing them to be visible even from light-polluted cities.
Though the best chance to see them will be on December 13, they should remain visible until December 21.
If you live in a city or other densely populated area, you may want to consider seeking out a more rural viewing location, as light pollution can dim the show.
Choose a location that affords you a wide view of the night sky without obstruction from trees, buildings or other objects.
The spectacular Geminid meteor shower will peak this Friday, producing up to 120 shooting stars per hour under perfect viewing conditions
While you watch, try to avoid looking at your phone or any other light sources, as you will be more likely to see shooting stars when your eyes are adjusted to the darkness.
The light of the moon, however, is likely to dampen their visibility as it will be full or near-full for most of this period.
That means only about 15 meteors per hour are expected at peak time this year, according to the American Meteor Society.
To see as many meteors as possible, you will want to watch during the darkest time of night - between midnight and predawn hours.
The Geminids are so-named because they appear to come from the constellation Gemini. If you look toward that group of stars, you will find the point where the meteor shower originates, also known as the 'radiant point.'
That point is near the bright star Castor in Gemini, Shyam Balaji, a researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, told Forbes.
Gemini is currently located to the upper left of Orion. To find it, look for the three stars that make up Orion's belt.
But you do not have to fixate on this point the entire time. Though the Geminids will appear to originate from there, meteors can appear anywhere in the night sky.
In general, you should be able to see them if you look east, focusing your gaze about halfway up the sky.
The Geminids are one of the few major meteor showers to hail from asteroids. These meteors are chunks of debris from asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which orbits the Sun once every 1.4 years
The Geminid meteor shower is visible all over the world, so skywatchers across the US should have a chance to see shooting stars this weekend through next week.
But if you miss them, don't fret. The next meteor shower, the Ursids, will peak on December 22 - the day after the Geminids fade from view.
Unlike most meteor showers which originate from comets, the Geminids hail from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon, according to NASA.
This nearly four-mile-wide space rock orbits the sun once every 1.4 years. As it travels through space, leaves a cloud of debris in its wake.
When Earth's orbit passes through this debris, the asteroid chunks burn up in our planet's atmosphere, causing a meteor shower.
As they burn, the Geminids often shine yellow or green due to the chemical composition of their unusual origin material. A yellow hue signifies sodium or iron, whereas blue-green indicates magnesium.
Though this meteor shower is one of the most brilliant annual astronomical events today, that was not always the case.
The Geminids first began appearing in the mid-1800s, but the first showers only produced 10 to 20 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
Over time, this meteor shower produced more and more shooting stars because the cloud of debris produced by 3200 Phaethon grew denser, causing Earth to encounter an increasing number of meteors when it passes through the debris cloud each year.