Every Thursday, we will tell you all about upcoming observational events and encourage you to go outside and look up, weather conditions permitting of course.

First up, we have the peak of the Geminids meteor shower on December 13 and 14. Side benefit, the moon will be new at the time, so if you have fairly dark, cloudless skies, you won’t have to worry about that pesky bright globe getting in your way. The peak of the shower should start on Sunday evening and last much of the night.

Now for the science. Meteor showers are caused when Earth passes through streams of debris left from orbiting comets. As a comet regularly goes around the Sun, it heats up, and the ice contained within sublimates, which releases small rocks and dust particles all along its path. Those bits and pieces continue to orbit the Sun, and every so often, Earth passes through a section of them. They hit our atmosphere and burn up spectacularly, causing numerous large and small showers throughout the year.

We call the place from where all the meteors of a given shower seem to originate its radiant, and next week’s shower seems to come from the constellation of Gemini, particularly close to the bright star Castor.

As Sky & Telescope explains: For viewers at mid-northern latitudes, the radiant is well above the eastern horizon by around 9 p.m. local time on December 13th. The radiant will stand highest at 2 a.m. local time on December 14th, which is ideal viewing time for those who can stay out late. Even though the peak has already occurred, meteor numbers should increase significantly after midnight, since that’s when Earth plows directly into the meteoroid stream.

Oh, remember how I said comets cause meteor showers? It’s not actually the case with the Geminids. The parent body of this particular display is asteroid 3200 Phaethon, a “rock comet” that has the characteristics of both an asteroid and a comet. Phaethon orbits the Sun every 1.4 years, closer in than any other asteroid, and rather than sublimate any type of ice, it simply sheds dust grains as it gets closer and closer.

So grab your kids or anyone else you’re stuck in the house with, the hot beverage of your choice, some warm blankets and maybe a pillow, kick back under a darkish sky, and keep watch.

The sky isn’t only dark at night. Sometimes, usually no more than twice a year, the sky can go dark during the day, and that is going to happen next Monday when a total solar eclipse passes over Chile and Argentina. While most tours to experience this event IRL have been canceled, there will still be folks with cameras out there streaming it back for all of us to enjoy on the internet. The Exploratorium, which is known for its eclipse streams, will be hosting coverage starting at 7:30 am Pacific / 10:30 am Eastern on YouTube and Facebook.

While I’m guessing no one watching this will be in a position to view the eclipse face-to-face, there is another fairly rare and awesome thing you may be able to see. Our Sun is currently transitioning from a boring blob of plasma to a spotty mess of magnetic field lines capable of flinging high energy particles at our planet.

And when it does this, we can be in for a treat in the form of aurorae. NOAA is predicting that aurorae will be visible for most of Canada & the northern United States. It’s unclear if the timing will be right for Europe and northern Russia, China, and Japan.

If you are somewhere that may be able to see this storm, go find someplace dark, look up, and enjoy. This is definitely a “Take the car with the sunroof” kind of event. Also, take stuff to stay warm. It’s cold out there, folks.

Some of you have already started observing our next night-sky event and sharing your photos in our Discord. I’m speaking, of course, about the upcoming conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which will be at their closest on December 21. While that event is more than a week away, it’s a good time to start checking in every night and watch them get closer and closer. On December 21, they will appear as one very bright star in the sky.

This Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, where the two planets get incredibly close together in the sky (not in their orbits… that would be bad), happens every twenty years or so. But Jupiter and Saturn haven’t been this close in 400 years, and such a close conjunction hasn’t been observable in 800 years. Talk about your rare events.

Astronomer Bob Mizen told Sky at Night Magazine how to plan your observations: You need to be at an observing site that has a nice westward view without trees or buildings blocking the horizon. The planets will be sinking all the time, so time it carefully. The two planets will have sunk in the southwest by around 18:20, but aim to look from 16:30 when the spectacle will become visible while being at its highest in the sky. The ‘great solstice conjunction’ will take place just within the boundaries of the constellation of Capricorn while a 50% illuminated First Quarter Moon shines high in the south.

Unlike meteor watching, all you need for this observation is some clear night sky to the west and access to the horizon. If you take photos, please tag us on social media or share them with us in Discord.

More Information

Sky Watch: CME aurora, December 9-10

• NOAA announcement 

Sky Watch: Geminids meteor shower, December 13-14

• Sky & Telescope press release 

Sky Watch: Total solar eclipse, December December 14

• Exploratorium press release 

Sky Watch: Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, December 21

• Phys.org article 
• EarthSky article 
• Sky at Night Magazine article