Last night marked the peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower for 2011. However, despite what most of the news media may lead you to believe, there is a lot more to the Geminid shower than the night of December 13/14. While most news outlets only focus on the peak night, the fact is that the Geminds will not be going away in any hurry.
Unlike what may have been suggested by most non-astronomical news sources, the Geminid shower lasts for about two weeks, a week on either side of the peak night. Why? The shower is caused by Earth running into a trail of space debris from 3200 Phaeton every year. Think of it as a rainstorm. When driving into a rain shower, the rain does not come and go in a sudden burst. Likewise, the trail of cometary debris is the same way in that it starts light, gets thicker until the deepest point is reached, and then starts lightening up again until the Earth passes completely through.
Bottom line: The Geminids aren't going anywhere any time soon, so why not go out and continue to enjoy them?
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