Geminid Meteor Shower, 13-14 December, 2023

Diwali has passed but do you want to watch grand fireworks, that too without causing any air or sound pollution? If yes, then I have a good news for you. You can watch the celestial fireworks of Geminid Meteor Shower over the next few night from any dark open sky. Watching meteors does not require any special equipment. One can just go outside and look up or, for more comfort, lie down. So everyone can enjoy a meteor shower.

“What is a meteor?” you ask. You may have already seen one or at least aware of meteors by their colloquial term “shooting star”. But shooting star is only a misnomer as meteors have nothing to do with a star. It is just a small rock or dust particle coming from the debris cloud left by a comet or asteroid that has passed close to the Earth sometime in the past. When the particle enters the Earth’s atmosphere, its temperature increases due to friction and ultimately it starts burning. As these particles are very small, it hardly lasts beyond a fraction of a second. A meteor shower is when a lot of meteors are seen in one night and, when back traced, appear to be originating from a common region of the sky.

There are many meteor showers active throughout the year, lasting from few hours to a couple of weeks with a peak activity over 1-2 nights. The most consistent shower in number and brightness is the upcoming Geminid Meteor Shower. The Geminids usually last for the first 3 weeks of December, with peak night somewhere between 13-15 December. This year the Geminids are going to be particularly spectacular as the peak (at daytime on 14th Dec) is close to the new moon on 12th Dec. At ARIES, we are arranging a special overnight session for watching the meteor shower on Wednesday, 13th December at 11:00 pm to 4:00 am. The next night is likely to be cloudy as per weather predictions. The session is open to everyone and entry is free. To register for the event, please scan the QR code in the picture or fill this form. Since it will be extremely cold, you are requested to have sufficient warm clothes and a sleeping bag or mat. If you cannot come to ARIES you can go to any open area with less lights and look at the sky to see the meteors. Do not miss this celestial firework show!