Main image via Bernama
One of the biggest meteor showers of 2020 took place last night and the phenomenal event gave astronomy enthusiasts in Malaysia, an unforgettable experience!
The Geminids meteor shower appeared in the night sky thanks to good weather conditions and clear skies for visitors at the observatory on Pulau Betong, Balik Pulau.
The Geminids meteor shower, produced by the Asteroid 3200 Phaethon that burns as it enters the Earth's atmosphere, is said to be amongst the most active meteor showers that occurs around December each year.
Astronomical Society of Penang (ASP) senior member Lim Choon Kiat, who observed the meteor shower from his observatory in Pulau Betong, said that the maximum number of Geminid meteors could be seen clearly from 10pm Sunday (13 Dec) to 9am Monday (14 Dec)!
“For the Geminid meteor shower, we could see between 120 and 150 meteors per hour if the environment is perfectly dark and the night skies are completely clear,” he told Bernama.
He described the meteor shower event as “almost perfect” due to the old moon - where the moon appears as a waning crescent, that made the night skies almost uninterrupted by the brightness from the moonlight.
Observers even managed to catch 10 significantly brighter meteor that last for seconds called “fireballs”, with a total of 323 Geminids meteor as the event ended at 6am (14 Dec).
One photographer was lucky enough to capture one of the green fireball meteors passing through the Orion’s Belt on camera when his battery was at two percent with an almost full memory card storage!
The meteor shower observation deck used to be open to the public, but it was limited to 20 observers who pre-registered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Definitely an unforgettable experience for anyone who managed to catch the meteor shower and if you didn’t, maybe you can try again next year!
Did you managed to catch the Geminids meteor shower last night? Let us know!
Info via Bernama
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