Stargazers in Canada are in for a treat this week as the night sky will be lit up by a meteor shower.
What is the Geminid meteor shower and where can you view it?
Geminids are the biggest meteor shower of the year, with roughly 75 meteors per hour streaking across the night sky according to the Old Farmers’ Almanac.
“This shower is unique because the meteors are visible all night long since the constellation Gemini arises just an hour or two after nightfall. Most meteor showers require waiting until midnight or predawn for the best viewing,” the Almanac said.
According to a NASA factsheet, 120 Geminid meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions during the peak of the shower.
“The Geminids are bright and fast meteors and tend to be yellow in color,” the NASA factsheet said.
Peter Brown, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Western University, said Geminids are stronger than Perseid showers, which typically occur in August.
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“The Geminids are stronger than the Perseids, but they occur in December, so the weather usually isn’t as good,” he said.
“But they’re a fantastic shower. Lots of meteors to be seen,” he said, adding that it should be visible to most people across south and central Canada.
Roan Haggar, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Astrophysics, said while the shower will be visible starting Thursday night, the best night to watch it will be Friday.
“Friday the 13th is the best night to watch it. That’s going to be the peak of the meteor shower,” he said.
“Anytime from about 7 p.m. onwards, once the Sun is far below the horizon, that’s when you should be able to see them.”
Brown said, “The meteors last quite long and there’s a lot of them early in the evening.”
However, there’s one big obstacle for those hoping to catch a glimpse of meteors streaking across the night sky — Friday is a full moon night.
This means the sky will be brighter than usual, making it harder to observe the meteor shower.
Brown said one way to mitigate that impact is to turn your back to the moon.
“The only thing to keep in mind is you want to look at the darkest part of the sky. Keep the moon out of your field of view: if possible, behind you or obscured by something,” he said.
Between the full moon and light pollution, people in cities might not have such a great view. Haggar recommends heading out of the city, if possible.
“Even just going five to 10 km away from the city can make a big difference. It can give you a much clearer view of the sky,” he said.
But the meteor shower is not the only astronomical entity you could see in the sky this week.
Haggar said keen observers might be able to spot Jupiter and Mars on the eastern horizon around 9 p.m. Eastern on Friday night and Venus in the west in the early evening.
“If you look towards the eastern horizon around 9 or 10 p.m., Mars will just look like a small red star just above the horizon,” he said.
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