Starting at 9 p.m. on Thursday, skywatchers under a dark sky in the countryside should be able to see about 100 to 120 shooting stars each hour. The show will be bright enough that even those in the suburbs should be able to see about a dozen meteors per hour if they can find an area free of bright lights.
The Geminid Meteor Shower is a reliable performer that comes along at this time each year, and with the moon out of the night sky on Thursday, the show promises to be quite a sight. The shower's peak will be on Thursday night and Friday morning, with a lesser number of meteors visible over the next few nights.
The Geminids are caused by dust that comes from what astronomers think may be an extinct comet, or maybe even a new category of solar system object -- a "rock comet." All other meteor showers are caused by comets and each year our planet, in its orbit around the sun, encounters about a dozen of these debris streams, creating the meteor showers we see.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
2 comments:
In the last days there will be strange Omens in the Skies.
I have sit outside for hours at various times when there was news that one could see 100's of "falling stars" and the most I've ever seen is about 10 in 3 hrs.
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