KUCHING: Mark the date on your calendar as the spectacular Geminids meteor shower is expected to peak on the night of Dec 13.
The Malaysia National Planetarium said Malaysians will have the opportunity to watch the meteor shower starting from 8.30pm on Dec 13 until the early morning of the next day.
It said the Geminids meteor shower would see a maximum of 120 meteors per hour. This means that there will be two meteors per minute visible to the naked eye.
To get the best view of this phenomenon, it is best to go somewhere dark and away from light pollution.
The Geminids meteor shower runs from Dec 4 until Dec 17 this year, and sets to peak on the night of Dec 13 as well as early morning hours of Dec 14.
According to space.com, the Geminids are associated with the near-Earth object 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid that may have undergone a collision with another object in the distant past to produce the stream of particles that Earth runs into, thus creating the meteor shower.
For further information, public can visit the National Planetarium website at https://www.planetariumnegara.gov.my/ or contact them at 03-22734303.
