If you can’t sleep tonight, take a look out your window. If the weather cooperates, chances are you will see a shooting star. During the night from Sunday to Monday, a lot of shooting stars are expected from the Geminids. In the first part of the night, the number of shooting stars even rises to more than 100 per hour.
They are called the Geminids. They are named after the constellation of Gemini (Gemini), because it seems to us as if the shooting stars came from there. Actually, it is not. And actually they are not shooting stars at all.
Meteors
A ‘shooting star’ actually has little to do with a real star. We call it that because of the flash of light we can see. In fact, these are meteors. Meteors are little more than small pieces of stone and grit, sometimes as big as a grain of sand. Sometimes they enter our atmosphere from space, and that happens at an enormous speed. Due to their speed, they evaporate in the air around the earth. The air around the particles lights up and we see that light as the fall line of the meteor. That is very fast; a ‘shooting star’ can only be seen for a very short time.
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When and where?
The special thing this year is that the conditions are extra good to be able to observe them. This mainly has to do with the time of day. For us it is the middle of the night when the climax takes place. Moreover, the moonlight hardly throws a spanner in the works, because it only rises in the morning.
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So, when can you see them? The peak of the Geminids takes place for us on the night of Sunday December 13th to Monday December 14th. About 75 to 90 are expected to be seen around midnight. Around the summit, at 2:00 am, if you look to the south you can see as many as 100 to 120 per hour.
The weather has to cooperate
Then the weather has to cooperate a bit. If there is a thick layer of clouds, the phenomenon is obviously not visible. The great viewing opportunities in the Netherlands are in the east of the country. On Sunday evening it will become completely cloudy in more and more places from the west. During the peak period between midnight and 3 a.m. it will most likely be cloudy all over the country and especially in the west it will also rain in many places. The chance of seeing shooting stars during the peak period is therefore extremely small.
The number of shooting stars visible to the naked eye already increases during the evening. Around 8 p.m. there are already about 26 per hour and around 10 p.m. this has increased to 63 per hour.
In the west, center and south it will probably be too cloudy by 8 p.m. to observe shooting stars. There are still clearings in the east and northeast. Especially in Overijssel, Drenthe, Groningen and the east of Friesland it is worthwhile to have a look from 20:00. The best viewing opportunities are in the east of the province of Groningen. If all goes well, there are still clearings there until the end of the evening.
Looking through the clouds
When the weather throws a spanner in the works all over the country, there is another way to monitor the astronomical phenomenon. The Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy in Amsterdam will livestream this special Geminid rain on YouTube on Sunday evening / night. With their radio telescopes on the roof of the building, they can see through the clouds.
The stream can be followed below from 9 p.m.
Less shooting stars
In the night from Monday to Tuesday there are also more than 20 shooting stars per hour, but they are very unlikely to be visible. Even then it is cloudy with a high chance of rain.
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