{"id":775319,"date":"2023-12-11T11:04:53","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T16:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=775319"},"modified":"2023-12-11T11:04:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T16:04:53","slug":"why-2023-is-a-fine-year-for-the-geminid-meteors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=775319","title":{"rendered":"Why 2023 is a Fine Year for the Geminid Meteors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>One of the best meteor showers of the year, the Geminids puts on a fine display in 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>December has one more sky watching treat in store for 2023. If skies are clear, watch for what\u2019s rapidly becoming the best annual meteor shower of the year: the Geminid meteors.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-164589\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-prospects-for-the-shower-in-2023\">The Prospects for the Shower in 2023<\/h2>\n<p>The radiant of the shower lies very near the bright star Castor in the zodiacal constellation of Gemini the Twins. The 2023 peak occurs on the night of December 13\/14<sup>th<\/sup> at 00UT (7PM EST) with an estimated peak zenithal hourly rate of ZHR~150.<\/p>\n<p>The Moon phase at the peak of the shower makes for an ideal situation for the 2023 Geminids. The Moon will be a slim +1.4% waxing crescent, just over 24 hours past New at the shower\u2019s peak. The Earth approach velocity for the Geminid meteors is 35 kilometers per second, on the median side in terms of annual showers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The radiant for the Geminids, looking east after dusk. Credit: Stellarium. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-destination-3200-phaethon\">Destination: 3200 Phaethon<\/h2>\n<p>The source of the Geminids is the bizarre, \u2018rock comet\u2019 object 3200 Phaethon. On a short 524 day orbit around the Sun, the object seems to be a defunct comet nucleus. 3200 Phaethon seems to be shedding flecks of material at it gets alternately baked and frozen on its path around the Sun.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PIA22185.gif\" alt=\"3200 Phaethon\" class=\"wp-image-164725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PIA22185.gif 240w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PIA22185-100x100.gif 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">3200 Phaethon, pinged by the late Arecibo Observatory in 2017. Credit: NASA\/NSF <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Certainly, 3200 Phaethon is a curious object, worthy of further study. We may get a closer look at the source for the Geminids soon, as the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) is launching the DESTINY+ mission in 2025 to rendezvous with 3200 Phaethon in 2029.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"945\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/oodestiny.jpg\" alt=\"DESTINY+\" class=\"wp-image-164726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/oodestiny.jpg 945w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/oodestiny-580x417.jpg 580w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/oodestiny-250x180.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/oodestiny-768x553.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An artist\u2019s conception, of DESTINY+ at 3200 Phaethon. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The history of the shower goes all the way back to 1862. The Geminids seem to be a relatively new and evolving shower. The shower also seems to be picking up steam in the early 21<sup>st<\/sup> century with an annual zenithal hourly rate topping over 100, besting the August Perseid meteors. It may be cold for sky watching in December, but the Geminids have the added bonus of starting a bit before local midnight, another plus.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meteorshowers.org\/view\/iau-4\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-observing-the-geminids\">Observing the Geminids<\/h2>\n<p>Observing meteors is as simple as dressing warm, sitting out and watching with a simple set of functioning \u2018Mark-1 eyeballs\u2019 and waiting; no special equipment needed. If you\u2019re clouded out, you might even \u2018hear\u2019 meteors \u2018ping\u2019 on a blank section of the FM radio dial. And speaking of hearing meteors, bright fireballs may even crackle via a phenomenon known as electrophonic sound.<\/p>\n<p>Photographing meteors is as easy as aiming a wide field lens attached to a DSLR camera mounted on a tripod, and taking long 30 second to 3 minute exposures of the sky. You can also count and report what you see to the International Meteor Organization.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"412\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k-1024x412.jpg\" alt=\"Fireball\" class=\"wp-image-164727\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k-1024x412.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k-580x233.jpg 580w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k-250x101.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k-768x309.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k-1536x618.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/52556850360_eb0c1efe4c_k.jpg 2047w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Geminid Fireball. Credit: Elliot Herman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-meteors-of-winter\">The Meteors of Winter <\/h2>\n<p>Also: could we witness the birth of a new shower next week? If you live in the southern hemisphere, keep an eye out for meteors hailing from the constellation Sculptor. These are thought to come from Comet 46P\/Wirtanen. The key time to watch for the \u2018Wirtanenids (Sculptorids?) is on December 12<sup>th<\/sup> from 8:00 to 12:30 UT.<\/p>\n<p>Later on this month, keep an eye out for the Ursids on December 23<sup>rd<\/sup> and the Quadrantids ringing in the new year 2024 on January 4<sup>th<\/sup>. <\/p>\n<p>Finally, astronomer Gianluca Masi will stream the Geminids live on December 13<sup>th<\/sup> and 14<sup>th<\/sup> starting at 23:00 UT\/6:00 PM EST courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project. <\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss the 2023 Geminids!<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded\" id=\"like-post-wrapper-24000880-164589-6577316c7f360\" data-src=\"https:\/\/widgets.wp.com\/likes\/#blog_id=24000880&amp;post_id=164589&amp;origin=www.universetoday.com&amp;obj_id=24000880-164589-6577316c7f360\" data-name=\"like-post-frame-24000880-164589-6577316c7f360\" data-title=\"Like or Reblog\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Like this:<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"button\"><span>Like<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"loading\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sd-text-color\"\/><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/164589\/why-2023-is-a-fine-year-for-the-geminid-meteors\/?rand=772204\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the best meteor showers of the year, the Geminids puts on a fine display in 2023. December has one more sky watching treat in store for 2023. If&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":775320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=775319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/775320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=775319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=775319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=775319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}