dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/13/85)
One of the year's best meteor showers peaks tonight! More on the Geminid meteor shower -- after this. December 13 The Geminid Meteor Shower Tonight -- if you're looking in a dark-enough sky -- you'll probably see some meteors, or shooting stars. The Geminid meteor shower peaks around midnight tonight. Some meteors should be visible in dark country skies throughout the night -- as the Earth moves through a region of space filled with bits of dust. Viewing conditions for the shower will be ideal. The cooler air at this time of year can be crystal clear, and luckily the moon is mostly absent from the night sky. Seventy-five meters per hour may be seen at maximum tonight night. The meteors will appear to radiate from the area near Castor and Pollux -- the Gemini Twins -- but they'll be seen all over the night sky. Most meteors start out only as large as a grain of sand. They orbit the sun at various angles and in different directions, forming a vast sphere of dust around the sun. Earth's intersection with distinct meteor streams within this sphere results in about a dozen major meteor showers per year. When the meteors collide with Earth's atmosphere, they're vaporized by friction with the air. They appear as a blazing streak -- a meteor, or shooting star. A handful of meteors per hour are visible on most nights. But the Geminid shower is one of the best. Last year, 30 meteors per hour were seen in the light of a last quarter moon. But you must look for the meteors from a country location -- away from the glare of city lights. Give it a try! Script by Holly Clark (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin