Vietnam is about to welcome the most beautiful meteor shower of the year

Geminids, the biggest and most beautiful meteor shower of the year with a peak of up to 120 meteors per hour, will take place next weekend and can be observed from Vietnam.

The constellation Geminids contains the epicenter of the Geminids meteor shower. Image: Space.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Phuong, Vietnam Astronomy and Space Association, said that Geminids, known as the "king" of meteor showers, will peak on the night of December 13 and early morning of December 14 with about 120 streaks per hour. However, viewers may see some scattered meteors around December 7 - 17.

"The best time to observe is between 1 and 4 a.m. on December 14," said Mr. Phuong.

Observers can look towards the constellation Gemini, the epicenter of the meteor shower, when it is quite high above the horizon in the southeast. "The bright moonlight may affect the observation at this time, but the Geminids is a major meteor shower with many bright meteors, so we can still enjoy an interesting and colorful meteor party.

A meteor shower over Maryland, USA on the evening of December 13, 2012. Photo: Mike Hankey.

Most meteor showers originate from comets, but the Geminids are associated with an object called 3,200 Phaethon, discovered in 1982.

Every day, millions of meteorites fall to Earth and burn up. They are too small and scattered to be seen with the naked eye. Humans can only observe the bright meteors, and when many meteors appear in the same area of ​​the night sky, it is called a meteor shower. Each year, Earth has the opportunity to observe about 8 major meteor showers. These meteor showers often repeat at the same time of year after year.

According to VnExpress