Advent is the shooting star of the time. Sky gazers can look forward to in these days, one of the most splendid Meteor showers of the year: The Geminids are coming in. In the past nights, star of friends with a bit of luck, were able to admire individual meteors of the swarm at the pre-Christmas sky – if it has a hole in the Clouds afforded a clear view of the sky. Now the nights with the most meteors.
Numerous yellow-white glowing shooting stars flitting about the Christmas night sky. Especially, many traces of the so-called Geminids stream can be seen in the nights of Friday and Saturday. “They are not as flashy as the Perseids (in August), but a bit brighter,” said astronomer Carolin Liefke of the Association of the star friends.
Several fields of clouds could be game of the show, however, a line through the bill, reported the German weather service (DWD). Frosty temperatures make it difficult for the patient look in the dark sky. In large cities there because of the light, also, anyway, only small opportunities to see you, says Lifke.
In the night of Friday, the weather conditions are neither optimal nor completely bad, says DWD meteorologist Florian Bilgeri in Offenbach. In the night of the Saturday had to because of some clouds with scattered snow showers long and patiently to clear sections been waiting for, at best, the observation had seen the possibilities of the weather here, in the night to Sunday. The temperatures fall widely to minus two to minus eight degrees.
The origin of the meteor shower is not resolved after presentation of the German centre for air and space travel (DLR). A model, you declare, however, as a cosmic track of the asteroid “Phaeton”. Shooting stars arise from the fact that the earth is the dust lane that crosses a Asteroid leaves its orbit. Overall, the star power shooting power of the Geminids from the 6. to 16. December is noticeable, especially between 21.00 and 6.00 PM.
highlight on Friday
at its peak the Geminids can reach on Friday, when the Morning and evening sky are expected to be dozens of shooting stars per hour. However, the chances of clear weather is not very good: The meteorologists are expecting, in many places, with clear sky, from the heaven to the hoped-for launch watchers to bright and are more likely to be the exception.
Lots of bright shooting stars
This brings up the after the constellation Gemini (Latin gemini) named swarm, according to experience, particularly a lot of bright shooting stars. Best dark places are the light, away from flooded cities to Observe the pre-Christmas sky streaker.
One of the largest swarms
Although they are one of the largest shooting star rave of the year, the Geminids is usually in the shadow of the much more famous Perseids, which are lit every year on the August sky. The Geminids are less popular, especially at the Season of their occurrence: The cold, and often cloudy December weather shooting star hunters are now even more uncomfortable observation conditions as the balmy Perseids nights in the summer.
“home” in the constellation of Gemini
The constellation Gemini, with its bright main stars Castor and Pollux stand godfather at the naming of the Geminids swarm, because the shooting stars from this direction seem to fall. The common starting point of the meteor orbits, the astronomers refer to as the Radiant.
Cosmic dust
In truth, derived from the Snuffs, of course, a cloud of dust that crosses our earth on its orbit around the sun every year around the same time. The dust particles enter the earth’s atmosphere, they produce then the shooting stars, well-known light phenomena.
an Unusual origin
Unusually, the origin of the dust cloud, which is for the Geminids spectacle. In General, Meteor showers go back to the tiny Remnants of a comet – tail of stars, the set free at the approach to the hot sun, Gas and dust, which is then spread over the comet’s orbit.
Asteroid instead of a classic comet
the origin of the Persian is So iden in the cosmic dust trail of the comet “Swift-Tuttle”, the chamber approximately every 130 years of the sun a visit. Otherwise, the Geminids cloud of dust: she’s not from a comet, but obviously on a small asteroid – so a rather solid small bodies in our solar system.
dust lane appear to be made with ice cream
The Geminids is asteroid called Phaeton. He was only discovered in 1983 and is in orbit around the sun in less than one and a half years. According to information from the German center for air and space travel, new research showed that the Asteroid’s unusual dust lane of the Phaeton could be ice under the surface of explained. Phaeton could have been, therefore, to about six millions of years from the much larger asteroid Pallas cleaved and ice cream are under a 15-foot-thick dust mantle.
more slowly than other meteors
The Geminids are still additional specificities. The meteors of the current draw relatively slowly across the sky. The reason is the low speed with which the Geminids particle immersion in the atmosphere: according to DLR’s “only” 122.000 miles an hour – in the case of the Perseids, there are, however, 212.000 miles an hour.
The brightest come to the conclusion
As a further characteristic of the Geminids in the hour of the shooting star, maximum, first, the light weaker and later the brightest meteors light up. Especially on these bright Geminids will be happy to see those who believe at the sight of a shooting Star to the fulfilment of a wish, especially in the run-up to Christmas. (AFP, dpa)
