Glittering Geminids Meteor Shower Taking Place Nightly in Boro Park

by M.C. Millman

The annual December Geminids meteor shower is currently active and can be seen from Boro Park rooftops or City parks this month. 

The Geminids meteor shower averages around 120 shooting stars per hour during peak viewing time, which will be the evening of Wednesday, December 13, through the next morning. The popular shooting stars will be over by Monday, December 25 this year.

The Geminids meteors are made from metal or rock and are caused by debris from a 3-mile-long asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon. Geminids meteors are denser than meteors from other showers, enabling them to get as low as 29 miles above the Earth's surface before being consumed. In contrast, other meteors burn up many miles higher.

While the Geminids can be seen by most of the world, they are best viewed by observers in the Northern Hemisphere.

Geminids meteors cast a glittering glow, leaving a white, yellow, red, or blue trajectory. The colors are created from the traces of burning sodium and calcium in the meteors before they disintegrate from the friction caused by entering the Earth's atmosphere.