The Geminid Meteor Shower visible December 12-15

Don’t miss one of the best meteor showers this year!

On December 13-14 (Sunday night into Monday morning), the bright Geminid meteor shower is at its best, from late evening until first light of dawn. The moon is a waning crescent, and rises around 5 a.m. on the 13th, making it a great year for viewing this major meteor shower! The Geminids are considered one of the best meteor showers of the year, and should be much more impressive than this year’s Leonid shower. Stargazers can start viewing by 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. to see this major meteor shower, which lasts all night long. Conversely, early rises can simply get up at 4 or 5 a.m. to catch some shooting stars before sunrise. If you see a bright Geminid meteor, you should be able to trace its path backward to a point in the sky near Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins. To see the shower simply look high in the eastern and northern sky and overhead after 8 p.m. Expect to see upwards of 50 meteors per hour in a clear, dark sky away from city lights, into the late night hours. If it is cloudy on the night of December 13-14, meteors can also be seen in numbers on Saturday night and on Monday night.

Dark viewing locations are highly recommended: glare from any artificial light sources will certainly reduce the amount of meteors seen. Dark sky locations in Tucson favored for viewing this shower will be east of Tucson, such as Saguaro National Park East, at the east end of Speedway and Broadway Boulevards (dress warmly!).

For more information about the December night sky, see our Skywatchers’ Guide.

Meteor shower facts
Entering Earth’s atmosphere at 78,000 miles per hour, the particles creating the Geminid meteors streak across the sky noticeably more slowly than meteors from most other showers. The Geminid meteors are unique in that they are actually pieces of an asteroid, asteroid Phaeton. Although currently designated as an asteroid, Phaeton may be an extinct comet. In Greek Mythology, Phaeton was the son of Apollo and the nymph Clymene. The discovery that the Geminid meteors were from asteroid Phaeton was made only recently, in 1983, by the late American astronomer Fred Whipple. Southern Arizona’s Whipple Observatory, run by the Smithsonian Institution, is named after Dr. Whipple (Dr. Whipple passed away in 2004).