Geminids Meteor Shower To Peak On WednesdayStaff Reports, iBerkshires
09:32AM / Tuesday, December 13, 2011 | |
Photo of the Geminids taken by NASA. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The last and most intense meteor shower of the year will be visible all week.
The Geminids shower will peak on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning and even though a waning gibbous moon is expected to obstruct the view, if the skies are clear up to 40 meteors per hour can be seen, according to NASA.
The shower is considered the best one of the year because typically between 80 and 120 meteors can be seen an hour. The shower comes from a point in the constellation Gemini.
The meteors are pieces of debris from Phaethon, which sciencetist have not quite defined. Phaethon has the brightness similar to a comet but its orbit is like an asteroid, according to NASA.
NASA will again be hosting "Up All Night with NASA" live web chat Tuesday night starting at 11 p.m. Experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will be fielding questions.
Check out this time-elaspse video of the shower taken in the High Desert in California, which includes the Alabama Hills, Eastern Sierras, Mount Whitney and Joshua Tree by Henry Jun Wah Lee.
Fleeting Light: The High Desert and the Geminid Meteor Shower from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.
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