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Hundreds of extremely bright meteors to paint Metro Vancouver skies next week

This month, Vancouverites are privy to one of the brightest meteors shower of the year – the Geminid meteor shower. The shower peaks on December 13 -14, and it produces an army of shooting stars.
Meteor
Image: Pixabay

This month, Vancouverites are privy to one of the brightest meteors shower of the year – the Geminid meteor shower.

The shower peaks on December 13 -14, and it produces an army of shooting stars. Specifically, this dazzling astral display is meant to produce more than one meteor per minute – which means up to 100 of the bright stars per hour.

A view of a Meteor Shower and the Milky Way with a pine tree forest silhouette in the foreground / Shutterstock

Last month, Vancouver witnessed the Leonid meteor shower, which also produced extremely bright meteors; however, the November shower did not produce as many of the speeding beams. The Leonid shower produces 10 to 15 at its peak per hour, compared to the impressive 100 meteors an hour that the Geminid can.

The Geminids originate from the constellation of Gemini, but they may be viewed across the night sky.

“For best results, you should look slightly away from Gemini so that you can see meteors with longer “tails” as they streak by; staring directly at Gemini will just show you meteors that don’t travel very far,” instructs Space.

As a result of their speed, these dazzling meteors leave visible trails. With that being said, stargazers should still opt to travel as far away from city lights as possible in order to avoid light pollution that will obscure the clarity of heavenly bodies. While this works best in more remote places, anywhere that has a higher elevation will also provide more ideal viewing conditions.