Geminid meteors expected to offer display of shooting stars Sunday

[steven johnson]

Saturday, December 12, 2009

If you can spare a few moments for stargazing this weekend — and the weather cooperates — Sunday night will probably be your lucky night. That's when the year's brightest meteor shower is expected to show off.

The Geminids, so called because they appear to emanate from the Gemini constellation, are the most visible and dependable of about four or five major meteor showers each year, said Rebecca Johnson, editor of StarDate magazine, an astronomy magazine published by the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory.

Meteor showers are created when the Earth passes through the debris of comets, Johnson said.

Astronomers predict that there could be more than 100 meteors per hour well past the peak of the Geminid shower, which in Central Texas will take place about 11 p.m. Sunday and last into early dawn on Monday. Johnson said that moonlight sometimes overpowers the streaking lights produced during meteor showers, but Sunday night, a tiny waxing crescent moon is expected to leave the skies dark enough to provide a good backdrop for the Geminids.


Geminid meteors expected to offer display of shooting stars Sunday

[csziggy]

1. Rats! They are forecasting rain for the next several days so it will be cloudy here

I haven't had a good meteor watching session in at least fifteen years.