Opportunity for meteor sighting nears in state

It’s that time of year again.

No, not for season’s greetings and Christmas cheer.

It’s time for the yearly opportunity to see the biggest astronomical displays in the night sky: the Geminid meteor shower.

Next week, the night of Dec. 13 into the morning of Dec. 14, will mark the peak window to see the meteor shower, which occurs every year from Nov. 19 to Dec. 16, according to almanac.com.

Dr. Scott Austin, Director of Astronomical Facilities at the University of Central Arkansas, said the “optimal time” to see meteors will be around 2 a.m on Dec. 14.

“They are called the Geminids since the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation of Gemini,” said Austin, who also runs the Griffin Planetarium at UCA, in an email. “The meteors are the result of dust and pebble size debris that the Earth is orbiting through. This particular debris field is from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon (most meteor shower debris fields are from comets).

According to NASA, the Geminids first began appearing in the 1800s.

They are bright and fast meteors and are typically yellow in color.

“No special equipment is needed to observe meteor showers,” Austin said. “A clear dark location is best that also has an unobstructed view of most of the sky. Laying on the ground looking upwards is the most comfortable observing position to be in. Best times are roughly between midnight and morning twilight.”

But will conditions in Arkansas be clear enough to see Geminids streaking across the night sky?

“Looks like we’ve got a stationary front kind of shifting south as a cold front around that time,” said Travis Shelton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Little Rock. “So it does look like some cloud cover during the day, but that looks like it’s going to be clearing.”

Shelton said the sky may be partly cloudy around 5 p.m. Wednesday, with it clearing throughout the night.

Temperatures are expected to be in the mid to upper 30s across the state, with the lower temps in the northern part of the state.