Sky gazers in for celestial treat Tuesday

NEW DELHI - Sky gazers can look forward to an exhibition of celestial fireworks as the night sky will be lit up by Geminid meteor showers that are expected to peak Tuesday.

A rare celestial event, the Geminid meteor shower will be visible across most of India and people can see over 100 shooting stars every hour for the next couple of nights with the largest number early Tuesday.

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

SPACE is a private organisation working 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 as the new moon is providing ideally dark viewing conditions.”

“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 gets pulled by the earth’s gravitational force and falls with its long bright tails visible to the naked eye.

The celestial movement is called Geminid showers as they will seem to emanate from the Gemini constellation.

SPACE will be taking observations at several places. A scientific team from SPACE will be going to the Jim Corbett National Park to conduct observations.

These observations of meteors will be sent in as a report to the International Meteor Organisation.