Meteor shower this weekend

The best meteor shower of the year is just getting underway – The Geminids.  The Geminids first appeared shortly before the Civil War and have grown in intensity ever since.  The debris we see shooting across the sky comes from a strange object called 3200 Phaethon.  At one time 3200 Phaethon was thought to be an asteroid, but now it is believed to be the rocky core of an extinct comet that was trapped by Jupiter’s gravity and has made so many trips around the sun that it has no material left to make a comet tail.

This year offers very good observing conditions because we are nearing a new moon, which means even the faintest meteors will be visible.  The constellation Gemini where the meteors originate will rises in the East around 9:00pm.  This means the meteors will be visible all night long.  This year’s peak is forecast to occur at 11:10p.m. CDT on Sunday evening.  Meteor forecasts call for rates as high as 100 per hour!!  The rates will vary throughout the course of the evening.  No special equipment is needed  - simply dress warm, find a dark sky and look up.

If you are out earlier in the evening, you will notice a bright star in the southwestern sky.  This is the planet Jupiter.  Look at it through a small telescope or binoculars and you will easily see it’s four largest moons in orbit around the planet.

Then turn and look at the southeastern sky and you will see a very bright star named Sirius or the Dog Star.  It is called the Dog Star because it is located in the constellation Canis Major or the big dog.  This star is prominent in our winter sky but during summer it is high in the sky during the day.  This is why the days of late summer are called the “dog days of summer.”

Happy Skies!!

Todd Shepherd

Instructor/Chair, Social Science Department