‘Christmas comet’, Geminid meteor shower this weekend

Stargazers hoping to catch spectacle urged to pick viewing spots away from city lights

If you’re looking for a spectacular night out this weekend, look up in the sky — but from a place away from the city lights — as the year’s brightest comet and meteor shower promise a celestial treat.

The brightest comet of the year, officially known as 46P/ Wirtanen, but popularly called the ‘Christmas comet’, will make its closest approach to Earth this week and will be at its brightest between tomorrow and December 18.

The 46P/Wirtanen comet swings by the Sun every five years or so, approaching from a point near Jupiter. But it’s too distant for us to see. But this year it will zoom past about 11.5 million kilometres from Earth — or 30 times the distance to the moon. This won’t happen again for another 20 years.

The comet, visible including its diffuse halo of light, is about the size of the full moon. Residents should be able to see it through binoculars or using ■ ■ ■

Where: When:

a standard DSLR camera if they are away from bright city lights. Hassan Al Hariri, CEO of Dubai Astronomy Group (DAG), said that from tomorrow evening to the early morning of Saturday is going to be amazing for astronomers and enthusiasts.

“We’ll have Comet 46P/Wirtanen put on a superb show on those days. This periodic visitor glows between 4th and 5th magnitude — bright enough to see with the naked eye from a dark site and an easy target through binoculars. Wirtanen made its closest approach to the Sun on December 12 and will come closest to Earth on December 16, when it swoops within 11.5 million kilometres of our planet.”

The Wirtanen has a diameter of only about 1.2 kilometres, scientists estimate. Despite its small size, it is classified as a hyperactive comet, which means that it has more ice in its nucleus than one would expect given its size. As it approaches the Sun, the ice melts and turns into a huge cloud that becomes part of the comet’s coma.

The comet’s close approach to Earth will give more opportunities to study and compare the comet’s composition and behaviour to other comets.

Celestial treat

Apart from the 46P/Wirtanen comet, another celestial treat is in store for stargazers as the Geminid meteor shower will peak this weekend as well. The seven-day-old moon will give perfect viewing conditions as there will be very little light interference from it.

Stargazers in the UAE will get a chance to see around 120 meteors per hour. Unlike most other meteor showers, the Geminids are not associated with a comet but with an asteroid: 3200 Phaethon. The asteroid takes about 1.4 years to orbit the Sun.

The debris shed by 3200 Phaethon crashes into Earth’s upper atmosphere at some 130,000km/h, to vaporise as colourful Geminid meteors.