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Most meteor showers are caused by fragments of old comets scattered along a comets orbit. When the Earth passes through a comets orbit, it sweeps up the fragments, which are heated by friction with the Earth's atmosphere to incandescence, and are visible as bright streaks of light. The Geminid shower is unique in being associated not with a comet, but with an asteroid — 3200 Phaethon discovered in 1983 by NASA's IRAS satellite.
The Geminid meteor shower will be a force to be reckoned with this year, and has already started with an almighty bang over Britain at 5:35pm on Wednesday evening, December 8th, 2010. It is the most intense meteor shower of the year. It lasts for days, is rich in fireballs, and can be seen from almost any point on Earth.
The Geminids' radiant is, as the name implies, in the direction of the constellation Gemini, just north of the northernmost of Gemini's two brightest stars, Castor. In the early evening of Dec. 13, the radiant is low in the northeast. By 1 a.m. ET, after the date has changed to Dec. 14, the radiant is almost directly overhead. By 6.a.m., when the shower is at its peak in the Eastern time zone, the radiant is low in the west.
Geminid meteor maximums commonly rearch 50 or more meteors per hour. And December is a glorious time of year to sprawl out on your reclining lawn chair and to take in the twinkling stars. Just be sure to bring along warm clothing, blankets or sleeping bags, and a thermos with a warm beverage. With the moon setting around midnight, the stage is set for a dark sky and a grand Geminid display between midnight and dawn December 14.. The best viewing of these often bright, medium-speed meteors should be from late night December 13 until dawn December 14.
Via: greenmuze
