The annual "meteor season" is back! In a month's time, two meteor showers are staged, do you want to see it?
(Photo caption: Spectacular meteor shower)
The Gemini meteor shower in December, the Quadrant meteor shower in January, and the Perseid meteor shower in August, known as the three major meteor showers in the northern hemisphere, show that these three meteor showers are an astronomical feast every year. The interval between the first two meteor showers is less than 1 month, which is even more dizzying.
The first thing to stage is the famous Gemini meteor shower.
Like other meteor showers, the Gemini meteor shower is formed by small bodies in the solar system, but its parent body is not a complete comet, but an asteroid, called asteroid 3200. Because it is very close to the sun, astronomers call it Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology, phaeaon in English, or 3200 Phaethon.
(Photo caption: Fareton in the telescope)
Fareton is indeed a very special small object , first observed in astronomy in 1983 , and is thought to be an Apollo asteroid ( a type of near-Earth asteroid ) , but it is also thought to be an asteroid belonging to the Homo sapiens family.
Fareton's perihelion is staggering, at just about 0.140 astronomical units (14.0% of the solar-Earth distance), or about 21 million kilometers, less than half of the perihelion of Mercury, the innermost planet in the solar system. At perihelion, the surface of Fareton will even be baked by the sun to 750 °C! Its aphelion point reaches 2.4 astronomical units, farther than Earth and Mars. This very flat orbit is also one of the typical features of Apollo-type asteroids.
In this way, its orbit even crosses the Earth. So, will it fly over the Earth at close range and even pose a threat to us?
(Photo caption: Picture of Fareton flying over the Earth)
Indeed, as recently as December 2017, Fareton had skimmed over the Earth at close range, and recently the two were only 10 million kilometers, which is quite close. Astronomers calculated that in 2093, Fareton will fly closer to the Earth, when the two are only about 3 million kilometers, less than 8 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Because it crosses the Earth's orbit, it scatters some material in space during the flyby. When our Earth moves here, the remaining debris will fall into the Earth's atmosphere, forming a meteor shower.
The most peculiar thing about Faetong is its nature. So far, there are more than 4,000 Apollo-type asteroids discovered by humans, and many of them have flown over the earth, so why can only Faetong bring us a meteor shower?
(Photo caption: Human observation device tracks Fareton)
Astronomers have found that although it is called an asteroid itself, many of its properties are more like comets. It was even able to eject structures similar to comet tails, dragging its tail through space. This celestial body, which has both asteroid and comet characteristics, is also called a rocky comet by astronomers.
Thanks to its characteristics, it brings us the annual wonderful meteor shower.
Generally speaking, the Gemini meteor shower begins to be active every year from December 4, and can continue until around December 20, usually on the 12th-13th. Because its radiation point is near Gemini, it is called the Gemini meteor shower.
According to experts, the Gemini meteor shower has three major characteristics, one is that the color is white, the other is that the speed of the meteor body is relatively slow, and the other is that the brightness of the meteor is relatively large. With these three characteristics, the Gemini meteor shower is very favorable both in terms of observation difficulty and observation effect.
(Photo caption: Location of the Gemini meteor shower)
The only drawback is that it is staged in winter, and the meteor shower must wait until night to be suitable for observation, so it is relatively cold when observing. In contrast, the Perseid meteor shower in the summer is the best, and it is quite comfortable to look at the meteors when it is cool at night. But then again, even if it's a little cold in winter, the Gemini meteor shower is still worth observing.
Jonti Horner, an astronomer at the University of Queensland in Australia, said: "As the Earth's orbit changes, we are getting closer to the most dense part of the Gemini meteor shower year by year. That said, over time, we can see even more spectacular Gemini meteor showers in the future.
Before the Gemini meteor shower peaked, there were already meteors kicking off. Recently, many netizens in Japan reported seeing bright fireballs in the sky. Japanese experts say this phenomenon occurs every year at the end of the year, and as the meteor swarm becomes active during this period, it is normal to see fireballs paddle by even during the day.
(Photo caption: Fireballs appear over Japan)
According to experts from the Beijing Planetarium, this year's Gemini meteor shower flow peak will occur at around 15:00 on December 14. The sky was still bright at this time, so we couldn't observe it under the most perfect time conditions. But don't be sorry, because this peak does not stop abruptly, and it can be observed before and after this point in time.
According to experts, everyone can choose to observe in the evening of the 14th. It should be noted that December 14 is already the 11th day of the lunar calendar, which is relatively close to the full moon, so the moonlight still has some influence on the observation of meteor showers. If you want to get the best observation results, you may wish to observe in the second half of the night (that is, the early morning of the 15th). At that time, with the broad impact weakened significantly, the meteor shower will also be clearer.
In addition to the observation time, what else do you need to pay attention to if you want to see beautiful meteors?
The first is to keep warm, after all, it is already winter, or to prevent cold. Bringing more clothes is not always a bad thing.
The second is to go out early and give your eyes time to adapt to the night. We know that the human eye suddenly enters a dark environment, or it takes some time to adapt to darkness. Experts say that usually 5 minutes is enough.
Try to choose areas with less light pollution and avoid interference such as street lights. But it is not to choose a particularly desolate field, even if you want to observe in such a place, you must pay attention to safety issues.
You can also prepare a stool or recliner, which can be more comfortable. Although the traffic in these days is indeed very large, there is no guarantee that you will be lucky enough to see meteors immediately, and your neck will still be uncomfortable after a long time.
Even if the weather is bad recently or the time is inconvenient, there is no need to regret that the Gemini meteor shower cannot be observed. Because there will be a Quadrant Meteor Shower next month, we will continue to remind everyone that we are not going to see each other.
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