Geminids without Moonlight

The Geminid meteor shower, about the most reliable of the year, should peak in the night between December 13 and 14, though some Geminids may be seen as early as Dec. 7 or as late as Dec. 17.

Unlike most meteors streams, this one consists of particles shed not from a comet but from an asteroid, 3200 Phaethon. The meteors appear to shoot out to all parts of the sky from a “radiant” point in the constellation Gemini.

Here is the group of four useful illustrations in the “Meteors” section of Astronomical Calendar 2023

–The space path of the meteor stream, following the short parent asteroid.

–The area in the map of the sky that contains the radiant,

–Earth’s spinning globe, to show the directions from which sunlight and moonlight and the meteors are coming.

–And the eastern horizon for an American location as the radiant climbs into view in the early night. The radiant will be higher at and after midnight.

The zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) is given for the Geminids as 150 – the highest for the usual annual showers. The ZHR is the average number an observer might count in a clear dark sky with the radiant overhead. Scarcely ever are all those circumstances perfect, so the number actually seen is typically lower.

But this year is favorable for the Geminids, because the peak date is only a day after New Moon. Moonlight, which can drown out all but the brightest meteors, will not be in the sky.

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