A meteor streaks through the sky over Joshua trees and rock formations at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California's Mojave Desert in this 30-minute time exposure taken in this Nov. 17, 1998, file photo.
Three space-related blogs in one week! Well, aren’t you lucky!
If you missed Saturday’s
lunar eclipse, there is another chance this week to catch some exciting lights in the sky.
One of the most reliable meteor shower of the year,
Geminids, is expected to peak Tuesday night sometime after midnight.
The shower occurs when Earth passes through the remnants of 3200 Phaethon. When Earth passes through the debris field, more than 100 meteors can be expected during the peak.
Cool, huh?!
Not so fast, says Mother Nature.
The
forecast for Tuesday night calls for a 60 percent chance of rain and cloudy conditions. So, unless a really, really big meteor plows through the clouds and then would likely hit the ground, you probably won’t see it. Or if there is a break in the clouds, which is probably more likely than a meteor making it all the way to the lower portions of an atmosphere still on fire.
So, while any
drought relief is welcome, it will ruin your chances of seeing this shower.
Also, the moon is just past full and is high and bright in the sky. So even if it was perfectly clear, that pesky moon will outshine a good majority of the meteors, which was the case for most of the best showers this year.
So, to recap: There is an awesome meteor shower tomorrow and you can’t see it.
Appreciate the rain then, I guess. And be happy it’s not ice (yet).
--Jerry Wofford
