Geminids 2009
So you watched the trailer created by Adrian West of Newbury AS and now it’s time to get out and Look Up.
You should be looking east/south east towards the constellation of Gemini and Orion (shown below)
The meteor shower will appear in the constellation of Gemini (hence it’s name) and is caused by an object called 3200 Phaethon which used to be thought of as an asteroid, but has since been discovered to be an extinct comet. Because the comet had too many encounters with the Sun it’s no longer a ‘dirty snowball’ but a rocky skeleton.
The meteor shower is expected to peak at around midnight of 13 December and it’s rumoured that if conditions are good it could be possible to see between 120 and 140 meteors an hour
Tags: 3200 Phaethon, Geminids, Meteor Shower