Don’t look for me. I’ll be stretched out on my lawn, freezing my but off, trying to catch my yearly rendezvous with the Geminid meteor shower. If I’m lucky, and it stops raining cats and dogs, this dazzling display should produce up to 120 meteors per hour.
If you want to join me (lots of room on my lawn 🙂): start watching on Wednesday evening, Dec. 13, around 9 p.m. The display will start small but grow in intensity as the night wears on. By Thursday morning, Dec. 14, people in dark, rural areas could see one or two meteors every minute.
The Geminids are bits and pieces of debris cast off by 3200 Phaeton, a burned-out comet. These bits cross the path of Earth’s orbit. Pea-size particles vaporize as they burn-up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Well, dress warmly, provide yourself with a (big), hm, make that (huge) pincher of Gluhwein, and enjoy.
Oh: don’t forget, you’re entitled to shoot a wish (or two)…
