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The Geminids, one of this year's two big meteor showers -- and among the few major meteor showers to come from asteroids -- will peak Friday night
"It's considered the best of the year," NBC 5 Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes said. "Up to 120 meteors per hour in ideal conditions."
Jeanes noted the other big meteor shower of the year, Perseids often gets more attention since it occurs in August, "when you don't have to freeze your tail off to go look at a meteor shower."
The Geminids shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow, likely due to the unusual origin material, said Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum.
Under ideal viewing conditions, the Geminids typically put on one of the best and brightest shows of the year because of the high volume of meteors visible each hour. But will you be able to view it in the Chicago area?
"A few things are working against us," Jeanes said.
First, a nearly full moon this year means up to 15 meteors per hour are expected at peak time, the American Meteor Society said, Also, cloudy skies could block the view, Jeanes said.
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The moonlight “will wash out a lot of them,” Brummel said, as meteor showers appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.
Between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday, Chicago skies may be clear enough to see the Geminids, Jeanes said, with meteors expected to be visible across the sky.
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"Realistically, we may get 20 meteors per hour," Jeanes said. "They'll race across the sky, at 80,000 miles-per-hour."
It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights, Jeanes said.
And your eyes will better adapted to seeing meteors if you aren’t checking your phone.
While the Geminids peaks Friday, it will still be visible over the next week or so, Jeanes added, as viewing lasts through Dec. 21.
What is a meteor shower?
Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don’t need special equipment to see them.
Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets, but a few — including the Geminids — result from the debris of asteroids. The Geminids come from the sun-orbiting asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”
The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.
The rocky nature of asteroid debris makes the Geminids especially likely to produce fireballs, said NASA’s William Cooke. “Those are pretty tough rocks that can penetrate deep into the atmosphere,” he said.
When is the next meteor shower?
The next meteor shower, the Ursids, will peak on Dec. 22.
