This winter's most beautiful meteor shower is about to make its debut. The Geminid meteor shower will usher in the maximum peak in the early morning of December 15, Beijing time, that is, the maximum zenith occurrence rate per hour, and the evening of the 14th to the early morning of the 15th is a better time for observation.
The Geminid meteor shower, the Quadrantids in January and the Perseid meteor shower in August are known as the "three major meteor showers in the Northern Hemisphere", among which the Geminid meteor shower is the most stable and most flowing, which is characterized by slower meteoroid speed, longer duration and more fire meteors.
According to astronomers, most meteor showers are comets, and the Geminid meteor shower is caused by a near-Earth asteroid named "Phaethon". The Earth approaches the orbit of "Phaethon" around December 14 every year, and meets the debris particles scattered in the orbit, thus forming a meteor shower. Because the radiant of this meteor shower is near the constellation Gemini, it is called the Geminid meteor shower.
This year's Geminid meteor shower is expected to occur at around 3 a.m. Beijing time on December 15, and the peak flow of meteor showers can reach 150 pieces per hour at the zenith. Although the number of meteors that can be caught with the naked eye will be much smaller than ideal, this year's Geminid meteor shower will not be disturbed by moonlight, and the observation conditions are excellent, and astronomers can watch the night sky from the evening of the 14th to the early morning of the 15th.
Editor: Zhang Mengwei).