Mexico City (Rasainforma.com) .- The 14 Monday night and early hours of 15 December, the sky lights up with the last meteor shower of 2015, experts say the best of the year.
The Geminids peaking 13 and 14, says Bill Cooke, Office of Environment Meteor the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). “Although the Geminids visit us every year, yet we do not understand completely,” said the astronomer.
A NASA say a burst of shooting stars invade the sky, every December to for several nights (04 to 14), from tens to hundreds of meteors per hour pass through the bright winter constellations
From the Geminids.
According to NASA icy comets produce most meteor showers. These comets cast Meteor jets when sunlight heats.
But the Geminids are different. . Its origin is not a comet but a strange object called 3200 Phaeton
And is that according to astronomers is a kite rock, rock-a comet is essentially an asteroid that comes close to the sun; While approaching the solar heat burns the dusty debris covering its rocky surface. This could be a tail of gravel -.
During observations of the spacecraft STERO NASA from 2009-2012, a small tail sticking out from behind the rock was detected. “The queue provides irrefutable evidence that Phaethon ejected dust,” said astronomer at UCLA, David Jewitt.
So the team of Jewitt believes that dust is ejected by thermal fracture the crust of the asteroid.
In this related process, called “fracture drying” (as when the mud cracks in a dry lake bed), can also play an important role. Seeing that 3200 Phaethon produces a tail, however small, gives confidence to researchers that Phaethon is indeed the origin of the Geminids.
And that is almost half of the month (and Year), you can not miss the spectacular show of the meteor shower – Gemínidas- in 2015 with his pun to peak on December 14, where they could observe about 120 “comet meteor rock” per hour. So bundle up and begins to celebrate Christmas with this magnificent natural event.
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