EXPLAINER

The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks tonight, is considered an annual favorite and is expected to get stronger every year.

Tuesday’s new moon left cloudy skies for one of the most bright lunar days of the year Meteorite shower to sparkle even brighter.

The Geminid meteor shower will peak around 7:00 p.m. GMT on Thursday and will remain intermittently visible until December 24th. Its unique formation distinguishes it from the estimated 30 showers visible on Earth each year.

Here’s what you know about the ad and how to watch it:

What is the Geminid meteor shower?

The Geminid meteor shower is a celestial event that occurs every December and takes its name from constellation “Twins”.

In contrast, it is also one of two annual showers that occur as Earth passes through debris left behind by asteroids other meteor showers that arise from cometary debris.

An asteroid is made of rock, while comets are balls of ice and dust. When one of these enters Earth’s atmosphere in large quantities, it burns up, creating streaks of light or a “meteor shower.”

A asteroid The star, named 3200 Phaethon, was discovered as the source of the Geminid meteors in the mid-1980s, while the first recorded observation of the shower occurred in 1862.

When is the peak and where can you get the best view of the meteor shower?

The event’s peak is expected to occur at 19:27 GMT on December 14, while it will continue to be visible until the early hours of the morning.

According to The Planetary Society, the best time to view the shower is between midnight and 2 a.m. local time, in any time zone.

The late night darkness and new moon bring the heavy shower into focus, especially if the sky remains clear. Next year’s Geminid shower will occur during the bright rays of a full moon and will be less visible.

Where and how can you watch the Geminid meteor shower?

Skywatchers can observe the shower directly or watch a live stream hosted by telescope networks.

The Slooh Robotic Telescope Network and the Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast the event on their YouTube channels on Thursday from 22:30 GMT and 23:00 GMT respectively.

Although the display will be seen around the world, the heaviest showers will occur in the Northern Hemisphere and people in the Southern Hemisphere will experience rainfall. Areas with clearer skies will see more visible showers.

NASA said that in the dark it could take about 30 minutes for the eyes to adjust and be able to see meteors clearly.

What direction and appearance does the meteor shower have?

According to NASA, Geminids could shoot 120 visible meteors every hour, making it the heaviest rainstorm of the year.

The further away you are Light pollution, the more likely they are to see the shower in all its intensity. Otherwise, the average person in their backyard would see about half of that after midnight, or one to two meteors per minute.

According to NASA, Geminids move at a speed of 35 km per second (22 miles per second), more than 40 times faster than a speeding bullet.

Scientists have said the Geminid shower may be getting stronger every year, especially compared to the 10 to 20 meteors per hour recorded in the mid-19th century.

Although the meteors appear to come from the same region of the sky as the constellation Gemini, viewers don’t have to look into the constellation to see the Geminid shower – it won’t be visible anywhere in the sky in any particular direction. In fact, meteors near the “radiator,” or point of origin, are easily missed because of the shorter trails, NASA said.

The stripes are very light and white, but can also take on colored hues depending on the chemical composition of the debris. For example, nickel produces green and sodium and nitrogen produce red or orange.