Sun, Dec 13, 2009
Shooting Stars To Light Up Night Skies
Don't be startled if you see some
bright flashes in the night sky over the next few days; the
Geminids meteor shower is in progress. NASA expects the fiery
lightshow to peak the night of December 13/14 (9:10 pm PST/12:10 am
EST/05:10 UT), coinciding with a nearly perfect new moon.
"You could expect to see over 100 meteors per hour during the
peak viewing," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth
Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif. "During the late evening hours of December 13, look for
streaks of light radiating from a point near the star Castor in the
constellation of Gemini, which will be high above the eastern
horizon for mid-northern latitudes."
While a sign of the zodiac may have provided the name for the
meteor shower, scientists have established the source as something
more tangible. "We do know that the origin of the Geminids is a
Near-Earth object called 3200 Phaeton," said Yeomans. "It is
probably the remains of a comet that has burned off its ices after
eons looping throughout the solar system. Phaeton has a trail of
pebble and dust-sized debris that stream out behind it. Once every
mid-December, Earth's orbit carries it into this stream of
debris."
Since all other meteors showers are due
to the sand-sized particles from active comets, it seems reasonable
to assume that Phaeton is, or at least was, a comet. However,
Phaeton has shown no cometary activity, so it is classified as an
asteroid - the only asteroid to have an associated meteor
shower.
"It is important to note that the orbits of Earth and Phaethon
itself will not intersect," added Yeomans. "There is no chance the
two will meet. But the result of our planet flying through its
debris field is an opportunity for science and the chance to see
Mother Nature at her best."
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