A Geminid meteor shower, also known as “the best meteor shower,” is reportedly going to illuminate the heaven across Lincolnshire on December 13, as meteors speed up past the region, reaching the most visibility on the evening.
A full moon is going to light up the sky at the same time. The supermoon will be 65 percent full on Saturday and 100 percent full on Tuesday. This month, the moon is going to be closer to Earth in its orbit than the average distance. Therefore, it will appear a bit larger and brighter to the eyes.
“You’ll want to look on the other side of the sky, away from the moon, If you have trees around your house shading the moon, even better,” said Chris Fenwick, an astronomer at the Longo Planetarium at the County College of Morris in Randolph.
The meteor shower takes place every year and it is composed by the 3200 Phaethon asteroid. Phaeton orbit gets the closest to the sun than any other named asteroid every 1.43 years, that is why it is called after the Greek myth of Phaëton, son of the sun god Helios. There, it slowly crumbles and breaks off, resulting in the star shower that flies around the Earth’s sky and leaves a bright trail above Earth as our planet plows through the field of cosmic pebbles. It is 5.1 ± 0.2 km (3.17 ± 0.12 mi) in mean diameter.
The meteors run very fast across the nocturnal sky. They slice through Earth’s atmosphere at some 35 kilometers, or 22 miles, per second.
Useful data for astronomy enthusiasts
The Lincolnshire Wolds field, a range of hills in the county of Lincolnshire, will be the best spot to look at the cosmic event. Among the aspects that need to be taken into account for the sighting of the The Geminid meteor shower are pollution, the weather, and light conditions. The less light the best the shower will be seen.
The Geminids use to disintegrate into a fiery green and red trail; wich will burst all over the sky brilliantly, possibly lasting a few seconds.
The meteors are pretty fast, slicing through the Earth’s atmosphere at some 35 kilometers, or 22 miles per second. The best time to look at the skies will be after sunset and after midnight.
In the time between, an earth grazer —a slow-moving and long-lasting meteor that shoots horizontally across the sky – would be visible as well. The best locations for the meteor watching will be those with the fewest light sources.
After the Geminid shower, the next astronomic spectacle that is going to take place briefly is the Quadrantids in January.
Source: NJ