Hello  Friend,

Why a mystery? Well, most meteor showers emit from a Comet, but not the Geminids.

The parent is not a comet but a  rocky object named 3200 Phaethon that actually sheds very little dusty debris—not nearly enough to explain the Geminids. 3200 Phaethon was discovered in 1983 by NASA's IRAS satellite and promptly classified as an asteroid.

What's the best way to observe a meteor shower? Well you don't need any equipment, other than your eyes.  Just head out to a dark sky,
as it's difficult to observe Meteor showers from light polluted areas. You may occassionally get a bright Fireball in the sky, one that makes you "ooh and aahh".

This month Earth will pass through the Geminid debris stream, producing as many as 100 meteors per hour over dark-sky sites. The best time to look is probably between local midnight and sunrise on Tuesday, Dec. 14th, when the Moon is low and the constellation Gemini is high overhead, spitting bright Geminids across the dark sky.  You may also see some activity on nights preceding the 14th and afterwards, but the activity will likely be lesser.

Dress warmly for this event! 

Clear Skies,

Ray Khan
www.khanscope.com

PS Please report your observations of this event to info@khanscope.com. I would be interested to know how other observers faired
in different locations:

 

source credit: Nasa