The Geminid meteor shower of 2023 has arrived and is expected to be one of the best celestial shows of the year. With a dark two-day old new moon and favorable weather conditions throughout the United States, Thursday, December 14 is shaping up to be a great night to catch the peak of this annual meteor shower. The peak overnight on Wednesday, December 13 already wowed skywatchers worldwide, with some areas experiencing as many as 100 meteors per hour, according to SpaceWeather.com.
For those unable to venture out into the cold December night or lacking clear skies, there are still opportunities to catch the Geminid meteor shower thanks to free online livestreams hosted by the Slooh telescope network and the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome, Italy.
The Slooh robotic telescope network will be hosting a free livestream beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, December 14. The organization operates a network of telescopes in Chile and the Canary Islands and also allows users to rent time on their telescopes.
Astronomer Gianluca Masi, operating the Virtual Telescope Project, will be hosting a livestream beginning at 6 p.m. EST on Thursday, December 14. Masi anticipates about 100 meteors per hour and notes that the new moon will offer the best, darkest conditions for a memorable experience.
The Geminid meteor shower gets its name from the Gemini constellation, the area in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate. Unlike other meteor showers, the Geminids are created not by debris from a comet but by leftovers of the asteroid 3200 Phaëthon.
For those interested in taking their own photographs of the Geminids or any other meteor shower, guidance on how to photograph meteors and meteor showers is available on Space.com, as well as recommendations for the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.
If you capture a great photo of the Geminid meteor shower and would like to share it, Space.com and its news partners are inviting submissions to [email protected] for potential inclusion in a story or image gallery.