Astronomy fans in Vietnam can watch Geminids next week
People in Vietnam will be able to watch one of the best meteor showers in a year next week, when its activity meteor count peaks.
The Geminids will have a peak activity meteor count of 120 meteors per hour in the small hours of December 14. The meteor shower will have a meteor velocity of 22 miles per second then.
The meteor shower often happens each year and lasts nearly the entirety of December. This year, it will peak around the night of December 13 and at first light on December 14, when it is ideal to watch the astronomical display.
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| A Geminid meteor flies across the night sky. Photo:Shutterstock |
NASA says the Geminids “are typically one of the best and most reliable of the annual meteor showers.”
There will be a full moon on the day of the peak so night vision would be impaired and the number of people able to watch the meteor shower reduced because of the dazzling light of the moon, Dang Vu Tuan Son, chairman of the Vietnam Astronomy and Cosmology Association, was quoted by online newspaper VnExpress as saying.
Astronomy lovers could also watch the meteor shower on the night of December 12 leading to the wee hours of December 13, Son said.
Viewers should take a close look at the center of the meteor shower which is the Gemini constellation, which will be in the east at midnight and move right up the head at 1:00 am before advancing to the west direction.
“From 10:00 am, astronomy lovers can watch the meteor shower but it would be ideal for them to start watching at midnight when the Gemini constellation rises high,” Son said.
Watchers do not need to use any special astrological equipment to enjoy the meteor shower, he noted.
