Why the Spectacular December 14 New England Meteor Shower is Different
I'm sure you've heard of the Geminids meteor shower. It's not that visible yet, but get ready, because of all the meteor showers we've seen in New England this year, this one will peak as one of the biggest, boldest, most beautiful meteor showers for 2022.
The Geminids are considered one of the most spectacular every year, where we can easily see around 120 meteors every single hour for a few hours. Isn't that insane?
According to Time and Date, even though the Geminids Meteor Shower is already underway, its true visual greatness is expected to peak in New England on Wednesday night, December 14. However, we can actually see some of it almost every night for a few days leading up to that night.
Talk about an early Christmas or Hanukkah present, lighting up the sky as only a beautiful gift from Mother Nature can do.
What makes Geminids unlike most other meteor showers is that the Geminids Meteor Shower isn't associated with a comet, but with an asteroid called the 3200 Phaethon. According to Time and Date, the 3200 Phaethon asteroid takes about a year-and-a-half to orbit the Sun.
According to the National Informal Stem Education Network, asteroids produce a bigger event to light up the sky because they're millions of small celestial objects revolving around the sun. They're often irregularly shaped and have a greater range in size, while comet meteor showers have tails but tend to be smaller overall.
In the Sky says that we New Englanders can actually start viewing the shower as early as 8pm on Wednesday night, December 14. This light show will take us into early Thursday morning before sunrise on December 15.