The Gemini’s radiate from near the star Castor in the constellation Gemini.
Where do you look to see December’s famous Geminid meteor shower? Simply look in an open sky, in no particular direction. That’s because these meteors fly in many different directions and in front of numerous age-old constellations. But meteor showers do have radiant points. That is, if you trace the paths of the Geminid meteors backward, they all appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Gemini the Twins. Do you need to find Gemini to watch the shower? No, but it’s fun to spot the radiant point in the night sky.
In 2017, the Geminids peak on the mornings of December 13 and 14. Here’s how to watch the Geminids in 2017.
Geminid meteors come from a point near the star Castor in Gemini. Castor is one of the brightest stars in our sky.
To see Castor, look fairly low in the east-northeast sky around 9 p.m. This star is noticeable for being bright and near another star of almost equal brightness – its brother star in Gemini – called Pollux. Castor is the fainter of the two Twin stars.
Castor and Pollux are near on the sky’s dome to another famous and very noticeable constellation, Orion the Hunter, as shown on the chart below.
View larger. | The Geminid meteor shower radiant point ascends in the east during the evening hours (northeast from the Southern Hemisphere). Look for Castor and Pollux, 2 stars close together and of nearly equal brightness. They are near on the sky’s dome to the bright constellation Orion, whose most noticeable feature is a line of 3 stars in a short, straight row. Image via Greg Smye-Rumsby / Astronomy Now/ Royal Astronomical Society
The stars Castor and Pollux, and the Geminid meteor shower radiant, swing upward through the night and climb pretty much overhead by around 2 a.m. That’s what’s important about a meteor shower’s radiant point: the higher the radiant rises into in your sky, the more meteors you’re likely to see.
Why do meteor showers have radiant points? Meteors in annual showers are bits of debris left behind by comets, moving in orbit around our sun. The Geminids’ parent body is a curious rock-comet called 3200 Phaethon. Remember, the meteors are arriving from outer space. They’re essentially arriving on parallel paths.
When we see them, it’s as though we’re standing in the middle of railroad tracks, gazing down the tracks and watching the tracks converge in the distance.
If you gaze along a railroad track, you see the illusion of parallel tracks converging in the distance. Like railroad tracks, meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere on parallel paths, and they appear to converge at a single point on our sky’s dome. This is the shower’s radiant point.
Photo via Flickr user Navicore.
Bottom line: You don’t need to find a meteor shower’s radiant point to see the meteors. But it’s fun to locate the radiant in the sky. This post tells you how to find the radiant point for the December Geminid meteor shower.
Click here for EarthSky’s yearly meteor guide
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1B7mbWh
The Gemini’s radiate from near the star Castor in the constellation Gemini.
Where do you look to see December’s famous Geminid meteor shower? Simply look in an open sky, in no particular direction. That’s because these meteors fly in many different directions and in front of numerous age-old constellations. But meteor showers do have radiant points. That is, if you trace the paths of the Geminid meteors backward, they all appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Gemini the Twins. Do you need to find Gemini to watch the shower? No, but it’s fun to spot the radiant point in the night sky.
In 2017, the Geminids peak on the mornings of December 13 and 14. Here’s how to watch the Geminids in 2017.
Geminid meteors come from a point near the star Castor in Gemini. Castor is one of the brightest stars in our sky.
To see Castor, look fairly low in the east-northeast sky around 9 p.m. This star is noticeable for being bright and near another star of almost equal brightness – its brother star in Gemini – called Pollux. Castor is the fainter of the two Twin stars.
Castor and Pollux are near on the sky’s dome to another famous and very noticeable constellation, Orion the Hunter, as shown on the chart below.
View larger. | The Geminid meteor shower radiant point ascends in the east during the evening hours (northeast from the Southern Hemisphere). Look for Castor and Pollux, 2 stars close together and of nearly equal brightness. They are near on the sky’s dome to the bright constellation Orion, whose most noticeable feature is a line of 3 stars in a short, straight row. Image via Greg Smye-Rumsby / Astronomy Now/ Royal Astronomical Society
The stars Castor and Pollux, and the Geminid meteor shower radiant, swing upward through the night and climb pretty much overhead by around 2 a.m. That’s what’s important about a meteor shower’s radiant point: the higher the radiant rises into in your sky, the more meteors you’re likely to see.
Why do meteor showers have radiant points? Meteors in annual showers are bits of debris left behind by comets, moving in orbit around our sun. The Geminids’ parent body is a curious rock-comet called 3200 Phaethon. Remember, the meteors are arriving from outer space. They’re essentially arriving on parallel paths.
When we see them, it’s as though we’re standing in the middle of railroad tracks, gazing down the tracks and watching the tracks converge in the distance.
If you gaze along a railroad track, you see the illusion of parallel tracks converging in the distance. Like railroad tracks, meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere on parallel paths, and they appear to converge at a single point on our sky’s dome. This is the shower’s radiant point.
Photo via Flickr user Navicore.
Bottom line: You don’t need to find a meteor shower’s radiant point to see the meteors. But it’s fun to locate the radiant in the sky. This post tells you how to find the radiant point for the December Geminid meteor shower.
Click here for EarthSky’s yearly meteor guide
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1B7mbWh
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