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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 11, 2018, 02:27 AM IST
Sky gazers are in for a treat as spectacular streaks of Geminid meteor showers will brighten up the sky tomorrow night.
"Astro lovers are expected to see shooting stars whizzing past in the skies as the Geminid meteor showers will be seen on the night of December 14 and 15," Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) president CB Devgun said.
One of the most spectacular meteor showers, Geminids, never seem to disappoint sky observers, he said, adding as the point of origin of the shower lies in the direction of the constellation of Gemini, they have been named Geminids.
Another interesting factor of the Geminids is that the source of the meteor shower is not a comet but a rocky asteroid named 3200 Phaethon, which has a highly elliptical 1.4 year orbit around the sun.
The Geminids would be visible from New Delhi from 6 pm on December 14 over the eastern horizon, till 6.30 am on December 15. The best time to view it will be from midnight to about 4.30 am, he said.
The ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate which is a measure of how many meteors one can see in an hour) for Geminids is about 50-100, which is quite high, Devgun said.
Geminid meteor showers are active and consistent, visiting the Earth every year around this point of time. They are expected to be at peak at 10.30 pm on December 14, RC Kapoor, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Astro Physics, said.
December 16 being a new moon night, the sky will be almost dark and it will be an added advantage for the viewers, Kapoor said.
Usual meteors do not leave glowing trails but the brighter ones can have a yellow, green or blue hue.
Meteors are startling streaks of light that suddenly appear in the sky when particles from outer space evaporates high in the Earth's atmosphere.
The light phenomenon in the atmosphere is called a meteor, while the particle is called a meteoroid. When the number of meteors is large, it is called meteor shower or meteor storm. The shower always happen on a particular day or a time period as it is associated usually with comets, Devgun said.
To see the maximum shooting stars, the area should have minimum light pollution, he said, adding the best time would be around midnight above the horizon towards the East. The showers can be seen with naked eyes and no aid is required provided the sky is clear.
The appearance of this meteor shower seems to have been fairly sudden during the 1860s. It was first noted in 1862, when RP Greg (Manchester, England) found a radiant in the constellation Gemini from December 10-12.
BV Marsh and AC Twining (United States) independently discovered the activity around the same time. AS Herschel noted meteors emanating from Gemini during December 12/13, 1863, as well as three fireballs from near the same radiant in 1863 and 1864. During the 1870s, observations of the Geminids became more numerous as astronomers realised a new annual shower was active.
