Where and when to watch the sky show
Find the dark and gather your wishes, my babies: the annual Geminid meteor shower is upon us.
The Geminids are the best and most reliable of the annual meteor showers — but this year, the burgeoning full moon in Gemini could interfere with optimal viewing.
Although the ever-loving moonlight will obscure some paler meteors, the bright baddies will still be visible — and it’s definitely worth looking up.
What is a meteor?
Meteors are born from comet particles and asteroid debris. When this glorious detritus travels around the sun, it leaves a trail behind it.
When Earth passes through those trails, the bits of space dust collide with our atmosphere and burn themselves up, and their disintegration creates streams of color and fire in the sky.
The Geminids are the early bird’s meteor shower as the sun sets early in December, and the constellation Gemini — from which they appear to originate — rises roughly an hour after nightfall, making the meteors visible relatively early in the evening.
While most meteors appear colorless or white, the Geminids throw themselves against the sky with a yellow or greenish hue, heightening the viewing experience.
When is the Geminid meteor shower?
The Geminids come around every year, blessing us with their brilliance from mid-November to mid-December. This go-round, the showers will peak the night of Friday, Dec. 13, through the early morning of Dec. 14.
Look for the most meteors per hour starting around 9 p.m. with a crescendo at 2 a.m. and then falling at a rate of one or two per minute.
Mythology
The radiant of the Geminids, or the point in the sky where they appear to originate, is the Gemini constellation for which they are named. That is not the source of the meteors but a visual indicator of them.
The Gemini constellation relates to the myth of the mythological twins Castor and Pollux.
The Geminids remind us of the importance of intimacy, sacrifice and a ride-or-die willing to give up forever for fellowship, while also imparting that we are made of stardust and to stardust we are bound to return.
Castor was the mortal son of King Tyndareus and Pollux, the immortal progeny of Zeus, an ancient example of heteropaternal superfecundation. (Google it; I’ll wait.) Good-looking and hardscrabble, the brothers were inseparable, fighting fights, sailing seas and swearing absolute loyalty to one another.
When Castor was fatally wounded in battle, Pollux, mad with grief, beseeched his father Zeus to save him.
Zeus, a placating pater familias, split the difference of their fates and granted both a deathless death — opting to place the twins in the night sky, where they burn bright and by the side of the other.
Metaphorically, the Geminids remind us of the importance of intimacy, sacrifice and a ride-or-die willing to give up forever for fellowship, while also imparting that we are made of stardust and to stardust we are bound to return.
What’s the difference between a comet and an asteroid?
Unlike most other meteor showers that originate from comets, the Geminids spring from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, named for Phaethon, the son of the sun god (great band name) Helios, who borrowed his daddy’s chariot to disastrous ends.
The difference between a comet and an asteroid, you ask?
A comet, according to Earth Sky, is “a dirty snowball with a solid nucleus covered by a layer of ice which sublimates (turns from a solid to a gas) as the comet nears the sun. Comets revolve around the sun in elongated orbits, going close to the sun, then going far from the sun.”
Conversely, and perhaps less poetically, an asteroid is a rock whose orbit around the sun is circular.
Much like the demigod for whom it is named, Phaethon is difficult to define. Per NASA: “ It is possible that Phaethon is a ‘dead comet’ or a new kind of object being discussed by astronomers called a ‘rock comet.’”
Where to watch
The Geminid meteor shower will be visible across the globe, with maximum visibility in the Northern Hemisphere.
The best practice for meteor watching is to find a place as far from man-made lights as possible. As many of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be under the cold climes of winter weather, bundle up, bring a hot drink or handle of warming hooch, and settle in for the spectacle.
For the easily chilled, consider a sleeping bag, weighted blanket, long underwear or a consensual cuddle puddle.
How to watch
Under clear skies and away from the maddening glare of light pollution, the Geminids will be visible to the naked eye. While many people will reach for a telescope or binoculars, it is better to take in the entirety of the sky rather than a small part.
The meteors can and will appear anywhere in the sky.
However, the moon will be 92% illuminated at the time the Geminds peak. Thus, your best bet for the shower show is to face away from the moon and toward the darkest section of the sky.
After roughly 30 minutes, your eyes will adjust to the dark.
Avoid looking at your phone during the meteor shower, as it will impair your night vision and disrupt your ancient connection to the above and beyond.
If you can’t catch the show this weekend, fear not — the Geminids will continue to streak the sky through Christmas Eve.
Look up, wish well and feel the gravity of being both cosmic and creaturely, infinitesimal and infinite.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the star
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.
