Geminid meteor shower peak offers rare chance to see green shooting stars

Geminids are the strongest meteor shower of the year, producing peculiar green-coloured shooting stars

Thursday 12 December 2024 11:17 GMT

The Geminid meteor shower will peak on Friday 13 December, 2024 (iStock)

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The biggest meteor shower of the year will peak on Friday 13 December, offering skygazers a rare chance to see hundreds of green shooting stars.

The annual spectacle will deliver up to one meteor every minute on the night of the 12th going into the morning of the 13th, with meteors continuing to appear on a more sporadic basis until 21 December.

The American Meteor Society describes them as the “strongest meteor shower of the year”, though a bright moon may wash out some of the meteors.

The ‘shooting star’ meteors will emanate from the Gemini constellation, which will be relatively well placed in the sky to avoid the worst impacts of the 92 per cent full Moon.

“The constellation of Gemini is well placed from 10pm onward,” the American Meteor Society noted in a blog post detailing the celestial event.

“The Geminids are often bright and intensely coloured. Due to their medium-slow velocity, persistent trains are not usually seen. These meteors are also seen in the southern hemisphere, but only during the middle of the night and at a reduced rate. In 2024, a nearly full moon will greatly reduce the number of meteors seen. If your skies are clear and transparent, you can still see many bright meteors by facing a direction with the moon at your back.”

Timelapse image of meteor fireball event from start to finish (Western Meteor Group)

Nasa has described the Geminids as “gorgeously green” due to the meteors’ chemical composition. The presence of magnesium and nickel means they produce an unusual shade of green when burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

“Most meteors appear to be colorless or white, however the Geminids appear with a greenish hue,” said Bill Cooke, lead for the Meteoroid Environment Office at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “They’re pretty meteors.”