December 14, 2008 - Gemini's Shower
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

If you were asleep in the wee hours of the morning you missed the peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower. This mid-December display typically produces an average of 75 meteors per hour radiating from near the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini. This shower is usually one of the year’s best, but the presence of the Moon just two days past full interferes with viewing this year. How unfortunate, since clear winter skies would help highlight a multi-colored display. Sixty-five percent of Geminid meteors tend to be white in color, twenty-six yellow and the remaining nine percent are blue, red or green. Even though you might have missed an early viewing this morning, you have another chance tonight. Although a day late and a moon bright, there is still a chance of seeing a few blazing meteors.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.