Starry Nights and Meteor Showers

 

Every year around December 13th and 14th, one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year reigns over the night skies. First noted in 1860, the Geminids are named such because they appear to be emanating from the constellation Gemini. Every decade since 1860, when they made their sudden appearance, the intensity of the Geminids has been increasing. Starting as early as December 6th, Geminid meteors can be seen at a rate of about 1 per hour. On the peak nights of the 13th and 14th, they rain in at around 50-80 per hour.

Learn more about the event here. 

 

When looking east in the night sky, meteors will be radiating out from Gemini:

 

Source: http://meteorshowersonline.com/geminids.html



 

The Museum of Natural Science will be taking a trip to see the Geminids. For more information and to sign up, click here.

If you want to go it on your own, check out this guide.

 

In other starry news, Moorehead Planetarium's Holiday Concert Series starts tonight. Check out the series of events in Chapel Hill's Fulldome theater. Starts, constellations, and other celestial objects are projected onto the dome during the musical performances. They also have sky watching events at Jordan Lake and education series on the winter skies. See the holiday concert series here and other events here.