I was driving through the desert late at night, this past weekend, when I saw one of the brightest meteors I’ve ever seen! I realized it was Dec. 6th, the start of the Geminid meteor shower.
Meteor showers occur about once (sometimes twice) a month as the result of Earth’s orbit intersecting the debris trail left behind by a comet. Well, almost always a comet! Learn all about Rock Comet Phaethon and tips for viewing this year’s moonless Geminid meteor shower below!
Below is the extensive list of sources used in my slides. Please let me know if I missed one!
https://amsmeteors.org/2019/12/viewing-the-geminid-meteor-shower-in-2019/
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/geminids-meteor-shower-best-year-scientists/story?id=51764123https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/13/geminids-meteor-shower-the-best-and-brightest-of-the-year-is-tonight/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_(meteor_shower)https://www.space.com/parker-solar-probe-geminid-meteor-shower-stream.htmlhttp://www.aerith.net/astro/Phaethon-dust-trail.htmlhttps://deepimpact.astro.umd.edu/gallery/comet_orbits.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_NEOWISEhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2013_A1_(Siding_Spring)
http://aerith.net/pictures/soulier/29P20200823et24.jpgKareta, T. et al., 2018: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1810/1810.11157.pdf
https://sbnapps.psi.edu/ferret/
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/rock-comet-3200-phaethon-geminid-meteor-shower
Jewitt, D., et al, 2013: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1306.3741.pdfhttps://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/9p-tempel-1/in-depth/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(300163)_2006_VW139
https://astronomy.com/news/2018/11/the-phaethon-pallas-connection
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200916.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6478_Gault
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7968_Elst%E2%80%93Pizarro
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/meetings/jun2017/presentations/Araia.pdf
https://www.amsmeteors.org/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa-parker-solar-probe-spotted-geminid-meteor-shower-source
https://earthsky.org/todays-image/photos-2017-geminid-meteor-shower
Adam Battle 