Grab a heavy blanket, a thermos of hot chocolate and a lawn chair. You’ll need them if you want to watch the Geminid meteor shower this week on the First Coast.
The celestial light show happens every winter when the earth passes through debris left by the asteroid Phaethon as it goes around the sun.
Florida State College at Jacksonville Astronomy professor Mike Reynolds says the number of visible shooting stars will begin picking up around 9 p.m. Wednesday.
“If you really want to see the best part of the show, and I hate to say this but, you’ve got to get up at 2 a.m. And going out at 2 a.m. Thursday morning, if you look up directly overhead, that’s where the meteors appear to be coming from,” said Reynolds.
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Reynolds says that’s when you can expect to see two shooting stars a minute. “There are some, by the way, who are estimating these numbers could be even much higher than 120-an hour. So if you want to take that 2 a.m. drive to the beach, it’ll be worth it.”
Reynolds said the Geminids will actually be visible every night this week, just in much fewer numbers than the peak of Wednesday night into early Thursday.
The East Coast is primed for the best seat in the house, according to Reynolds.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
