Geminids are here!

This weekend gives us the peak of the annual Geminid Meteor Shower, a fun event that can produce some 60 meteors per hour (one each minute) if you are observing from a dark sky site. This is a good shower and rarely disappoints, like the summer Perseids. The only difference? For the Geminids, we have to get really dressed for the cold! No telescopes required. Best times are this Saturday night and this Sunday night from 10pm local until dawn the next day. Let us hope for clear skies!….and a small additional tidbit: most meteor showers are caused by the Earth crossing the orbital path of a comet. In the case of the Geminids, this is not the case. Instead we pass through the orbital path of an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon.

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