Idaho Skies Transcript for December 12th and 13th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for December 12th and 13th. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
The Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak this week.

RACHEL
The Geminid meteor shower is reliable meteor shower

PAUL
Most meteor showers originate as dust from comet tails. The Geminids actually originate from dust chipped off an asteroid. The dust of a meteor shower is small, at about the size of a grain of sand or perhaps grain of rice. When these dust motes slam into Earth’s atmosphere, they are traveling far faster than the speed of sound. This means air molecules ahead of them don’t have time to move out of the way before the dust mote has arrived.

RACHEL
This compresses the air ahead of the dust mote so fast that the air gets very hot. Think of it this way. You compress the air in a bicycle pump when you fill a tire with air. Now image how hot the pump would get if you were to operate it at thousands of miles per hour. The air inside the pump would get so hot that it would melt the pump.

PAUL
The moon sets by 11:30 PM on the 13th. So if you go outside around then, you should see Geminid meteors streaking out of the high east. Look for dozens of meteors per hour from this shower, especially if you observe it from a dark location. The meteors from this shower will have a slightly yellow tint and don’t travel quite as swiftly as those in other meteor showers. Just be sure to dress warmly. 

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 12th and 13th of December.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.