With winter come Geminid meteors

GOOD SHOT—A meteor creases the lower-left corner of the star-filled sky. The Geminids meteor shower is coming soon to the night skies, according to Gary Chapman, astronomy expert and teacher at CSUN.

The winter skies aren’t quite as impressive as summer skies, Chapman said. When looking into winter night skies, he said, it’s like looking into the suburbs of the galaxy, and the summer night skies are like looking at the galaxy’s downtown with a lot more lights, due to the Earth’s position.

But winter brings some advantages to sky watching, Chapman said.

“Winter is sometimes good here (Southern California) because you get the Santa Ana winds, which clears out the smog,” Chapman said. “The main things that are out now are Mars, which is visible in the eastern sky just after it gets dark, and Venus, which is quite prominent in the western sky.”

Chapman said Mars is usually noticeable since it has a reddish color to it, and is usually the brightest light in the sky. Venus is usually a very bright, white color, he said.

“If the wind isn’t too bad, then the planets tend not to twinkle,” Chapman said. “If you have a real bad Santa Ana wind, then even the planets will twinkle a little bit. But they’ll still twinkle less than a star.”

Chapman said to expect the Geminids meteor shower between Dec. 10 and 13.

“The best way to look for these things is to not use any equipment,” Chapman said. “Just go out(side) with the unaided eye and, if you have a nice chaise lounge or something like that, you can lie on that with a nice blanket, and just look skyward. And you have to be patient . . . You’ll see streaks of light that go across the sky real fast.”

The best time for viewing the meteors is after midnight, Chapman said.

According to experts, meteors are usually small specs of sand or gravel.

“Most of these (meteors) are the result of a comet, and we (Earth) are passing through part of the comet’s orbit,” Chapman said. “So what we’re doing is we’re picking up some debris that the comet left behind.”

According to NASA, the Geminids come from an unknown celestial object named 3200 Phaethon. Some experts don’t think 3200 Phaethon is a comet, but rather an asteroid.

The first Geminid shower appeared in 1862, surprising sky watchers who witnessed more than a dozen shooting stars each hour.

The Geminids, some astronomy enthusiasts say, are regarded as one of the best annual meteor showers. The Earth goes through the Geminids at the same time each year, according to Chapman.

“Sometimes we go through a little thicker debris section than others, so you get a better meteor shower,” Chapman said. “Sometimes it’s pretty sparse. So it’s not a constant from year to year. There are good ones and bad ones.”

Chapman said the upcoming showers would be more visible in more desolate areas.

“Sometimes (meteors) are really hard to see in the L.A. area because the sky is so b r i g h t , ” Chapman said. “My wife and I were recently in Death Valley, and it was just unbelievable how many stars you could see. You just don’t see that in Los Angeles.”

Chapman suggests that regular sky watchers choose a night to look at the sky when the moon is the smallest or barely visible, so that the sky isn’t too bright and the stars are more visible.

“The moon lightens up the sky and adds to what we call light pollution,” Chapman said.

Man made lighting, such as streetlights, structure lights and billboard lights, also cause light pollution.