Geminid meteor shower to be visible

A rare celestial event, the Geminid meteor shower will be visible across India where people can see over 60 shooting stars every hour for the next couple of nights, with the largest number early Wednesday.

“People can watch out for the meteor showers from late Tuesday to dawn on Wednesday morning. There will be fireballs in the sky,” said Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) director C.B. Devgun.

The private organisation SPACE works for popularising science among people. Explaining the method to observe the meteorites, Devgun said: “Look up at the sky between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. and you could see beautiful fireworks in the sky but as this time it is happening three days after full moon, so visibility is likely to be hampered.”

“You need a simple telescope to watch the meteor showers. People in the capital should move to the outskirts to have a clear look as the morning sky these days is covered with fog," he said. A meteor shower occurs when the earth passes through debris left behind by a passing comet or asteroid. In the present case, it is an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon.

As the earth moves around the sun, the debris get pulled by the earth's gravitational force and fall with long bright tails visible to the naked eye. The celestial phenomenon is called Geminid showers as they seem to emanate from the Gemini cons tellation.