Look Up

That doesn’t mean that it can’t be worked around. The trick is to look for “shooting stars” before the moon rises. With the sun setting so early, we don’t have to wait so long for it to get dark. And at least now the moon is in its waning gibbous phase. In other words, the moon is getting smaller.

Typically, the best time to look for “shooting stars” is when the radiant point reaches its highest point. The radiant point of this meteor shower is the constellation of Gemini. It rises just after 6 p.m. Wednesday and reaches its highest point at around 2 a.m. At that time the moon will be out at that time. The moon rises 10:55 p.m. so that gives you a good, almost five-hour window of a moonless night. This will be the best time to look for meteors.

It’ll be best to get away from light pollution and avoid city lights. Mountaintops are great for viewing as they’re usually high enough to reduce haze from light pollution. Then be patient, it usually takes about 20 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark. To avoid a stiff neck, bring a reclining lawn chair or a sleeping bag for the ground and lots of extra blankets for these cold nights. The windshield of a car works good too but the glass gets really cold.

You might recall from previous Look Ups, meteors occur when our planet passes through a stream of dust and debris left behind by a passing comet or asteroid. This space dust and debris are called meteoroids. They range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere or that of another planet, they enter at such a high speed that they burn up. These fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and makes it to the surface of our planet, it’s then called a meteorite. Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is responsible for creating the Geminid meteor shower.

Look Up appears in the weekend edition. If you have any astronomical questions or facts you’d like to share email news@smdailyjournal.com with the subject line “Look Up.”