Did you miss the much-anticipated Geminid meteor shower last night? Try again tonight — it's not too late.
The Geminid meteor shower, one of the year's best with up to 120 meteors per hour, peaks during daylight hours in Canada today.
"And that means tonight's chances are still good for a meteor display," says astronomy news website EarthSky.
NASA says there are good meteor rates both the night before the peak and the night after (that's tonight). It recommends watching for them in the early morning hours tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Your best chance to see them, as with all meteor showers, is to find someplace dark with a clear view of as much of the sky as possible.
Daniel Morales managed to catch this meteor as it sliced between the clouds above Porteau Cove Provincial Park, about 40 kilometres north of Vancouver on Dec. 13, 2015. (Daniel Morales)
Dead comet debris
The Geminid meteor shower takes place mid-December each year when Earth passes through the huge amount of rocky debris left by an object called 3200 Phaethon, which is thought to be a dead comet. It produces unusually bright meteors that may last for up to two seconds, and may appear green, yellow or blue, NASA says.
While most of Canada was cloudy last night, some people were still lucky enough to catch some great shots of the meteors. They included Len Wagg, who photographed one streaking past the lighthouse at Peggys Cove, N.S. and Daniel Morales, managed to catch one as it sliced between the clouds above Porteau Cove Provincial Park, about 40 kilometres north of Vancouver.
If you managed to catch a patch of clear sky, this is a good year to watch for the Geminids, as we're only a few days from the new moon and skies are dark.
Next year, the peak of the meteor shower coincides with a supermoon, one of the largest full moons of the year, which will wash out visibility for a lot of the meteors.
A shooting star! Fantastic photo of the #Geminids #meteor shower last night. Set to peak in the next few days. Jo http://pic.twitter.com/iS4ocZazhR
— @bbcweather
A pic of tonight's #Geminids meteor shower. http://pic.twitter.com/nabCv2Em2v
— @mattdmarshall
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