How to catch the Geminids, the strongest meteor shower of the year
CBC
We're in the midst of the "best and most reliable" meteor shower of the year. Here's where and when to look for the Geminids, and why the event still puzzles astronomers.
The Geminids, which happen every December, are "one of the best and most reliable annual meteor showers," according to NASA.
Peter Brown, an astronomy professor at Western University in London, Ont., who studies meteor showers goes further, calling it the "strongest meteor shower of the year."
Meteors, also known as shooting stars, appear as points of light that streak across the sky. They're caused by dust and small rocks passing into the atmosphere and burning up.
While you might see a meteor any night of the year, you can expect a lot more during a meteor shower, which occurs several times a year.
One of the best known showers is the Perseids, which happen in August and which many people see while out camping or at cottages.
But the Geminids produce meteors at about double the rate of the Perseids, said Brown. You can see more than two per minute when the December meteor shower is peaking.
"They last for several days. They're quite rich and bright meteors. They're slower than the Perseids," Brown said. "So as a visual display … the Geminids are quite, quite spectacular."
And in fact, the Geminid meteor shower has improved in recent decades, producing more meteors now than in the past, although researchers aren't really sure why.
The Geminids are generally active from Dec. 4 to 17, and this year's meteor shower is already underway. It also tends to be more active before its peak — overnight on Dec. 13-14 this year — than after.
"If people can get outside any time in the next four or five days, right up to next Wednesday, it's definitely worth trying," Brown said.
This year, the meteor shower will "definitely be strongest Monday night, Dec. 13, into Tuesday morning," he said.
It's official peak will be around 3 a.m. ET Tuesday.
Brown recommends people try to view the shower between 2 a.m. and dawn local time where they are, as the moon sets around then and skies will be darker, making the meteors easier to spot.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Health Canada issued a recall notice on Friday for some Seasonique birth control products due to some packages containing the correct blue-green pills coming with extraneous yellow tablets.
Thirteen-year-old William Gruben said when he first moved from Inuvik, N.W.T., to Whitehorse in August 2024, he missed his friends back home.
A grassroots group in Edmonton honoured those who stood up for First Nations rights back in 1970 when the Canadian government was proposing to erase legal distinctions between First Nations and other citizens, at an event Wednesday.
In dark waters near Collingwood, Ont., a giant yellow machine with metallic claws precisely snatches tiny rock balls from the lakebed, kicking up sediment with each grab.
The death of an Ontario infant born prematurely and infected with measles through the mother is raising questions about how the virus is transmitted during pregnancy.
In Nova Scotia, where there's a significant proportion of people living with disabilities, work is underway to measure whether the province is making progress on improving their lives.
Under a punishing midday sun, Devabhai Sawadiya slowly rakes the salt pan that has been in his family for generations. It's quiet around him, except for the sweeping motions of his salt broom and the soft, clinking sound of dishes being washed nearby.
WARNING: This article references sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
James Smith woke up from a colonoscopy to be told devastating news. At 59, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Doctors found a mass so large it completely blocked their view of the rest of his colon. Smith said he was shocked.
Stephanie Cameron-Johnson was 11 and in foster care when she learned her mother had gone missing on Vancouver Island, after a friend showed her a photo in a newspaper.
You may be hearing a lot about the gut microbiome these days — it's been mentioned everywhere, from wellness podcasts to the grocery aisle. Doctors are tapping into it to try to treat some diseases differently.