Peaking between December 13 and 14, 2019, the famed Geminid meteor shower will soon be slinging amazingly bright shooting stars across the sky. And you can see it from here in Texas! According to a NASA meteor expert, this year’s event will be just after the full moon, which may make it just a little more difficult to see with the naked eye, but not nearly impossible!
Following the height of the Geminid meteor shower, those looking up into the Texas night sky will still be able to see bright meteors over the next few days. This is thought to be one of the year’s best meteor showers due to the brightness of each individual one, not too mention their speed. This year’s prediction is that 20-30 per hour may be viewed at the height of visibility.
Video: YouTube/ScienceAtNASA
Shared on the ScienceAtNASA YouTube channel, the video above talks about the viewing of this year’s Geminid meteor shower from different perspectives. According to Bill Cooke, a meteor expert at NASA, the best time for viewing of the Geminids is at approximately 2 a.m. in your area’s time zone. This celestial event is almost two centuries old, with the first known observation being in 1833 by someone on a riverboat traveling the Mississippi River. Since that time, the record of its viewing reveals that it’s growing stronger, due to the fact that Jupiter’s gravity has pulled the particle stream closer to Earth from the shower’s source, the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. For those of you wanting to view the Geminid meteor shower with children, some of them will be visible as early as 9 – 10 p.m.
What’s the most impressive shooting star you’ve ever seen? Ever made a wish on one? Tell us all about it! We want to hear your tales of Texas shooting stars.