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Geminid Meteor Shower 2017: When, Where & How to See It This Week


The Geminids are considered one of the best meteor showers every year because the individual meteors are bright, and the peak can see meteors stream across the sky at rates as high as 120 meteors an hour. Under light-polluted skies, fewer meteors will be visible.

The annual Geminids meteor shower will be active from December 4-17. The observation of its peak activity is on the night of December 14 until the early morning hours of December 15 on the eastern horizon, meteors or “falling stars” can be seen at an average rate of forty (40) meteors per hour under a dark and cloudless sky condition. The shower will appear to radiate from the constellation of Gemini, the Twin. Gemini is easy to spot through its two bright stars Castor and Pollux, which are just to the left of constellations Orion and Auriga.

There is a big difference between the Geminids and other meteor showers. The Geminids meteors do not originate from a comet, they come from an asteroid (3200 Phaethon). Meteors from this shower are very rocky and gritty and slightly easier to see compared to the other showers.

Source: pagasa.dost.gov.ph
Photo Courtesy: Kenneth Brandon

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