Geminids Meteor Shower

The Geminids are an annual meteor shower occurring when the Earth passes through the debris tail of asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Most meteor showers originate from comets, which spew tiny chunks of ice that burn in our planet’s atmosphere. Phaethon is not a comet but rather a strange type of asteroid that astronomers sometimes call a “rock comet,” meaning that it is heated when coming close to the sun, producing dusty debris that turn into meteors in Earth’s skies.  Source: WIRED SCIENCE

We've also tried watching a meteor shower a few years ago but saw none.

However, last night around 10:30, (Night of December 13 'til the morning of December 14) with mats in the open area of our home and turned off lights, we were all ready to witness some meteor shower fun. After 30 minutes of clear skies (with a few falling stars) thick clouds covered the entire sky! And that was exactly 11:00. Yes clouds, cover everything. We waited... waited really patiently for an hour for the skies to clear again and we saw more meteors! The clouds though, once again covered the entire sky so we decided to go inside already. 

When I was younger, I used to look up the sky every night to check if the stars I claimed are there "watching" me. Those stars, I learned later, are a part of the constellation Orion and they're the Orion's belt (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka). Oh well, they're still mine.


Before this, I've only seen two falling stars but now that I've lost count, I want to see more!

You Might Also Like

0 comments