＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
Have you ever actually seen a shooting star? When I was a child, I remember seeing one by chance once and thinking, “Ah, a star is falling!” It was just a fleeting moment, but I remember it happening.
“When You Wish Upon a Star” is the theme song of the Disney movie “Pinocchio,” and there’s also a saying that if you make a wish three times in your mind while a shooting star is passing by, your wish will come true.
In this way, shooting stars can be thought of as an astronomical show that makes us feel closer to the universe.
Incidentally, the Geminid meteor shower is famous for being able to consistently produce the largest meteor shower of the year every year.
So, in this article, I’d like to give you an easy-to-understand introduction to the Geminid meteor shower.
1. How to Enjoy the Geminid Meteor Shower
While the Perseid meteor shower can be seen in midsummer in August, the Geminid meteor shower can be seen in midwinter in December.
(1) Best Viewing Times, Directions, and Locations
The meteor showers appear every year from around December 4th to December 17th, reaching their peak (best viewing) on December 14th.
On the night of December 14th, when it peaks, you can expect to see up to 45 shooting stars per hour if the sky is clear.
According to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the meteor shower becomes active from around 9:00 PM.
There’s no need to worry about the viewing direction.
The Geminid meteors are visible in the night sky almost all night, so you have a chance to see them from dusk until dawn. However, since the radiant point is low in the early evening, the best viewing conditions are from around 9:00 PM. At around 2:00 AM, the radiant point is almost at the zenith, so the shooting stars will appear to be falling from directly above.
For best visibility, choose an open area away from streetlights and moonlight, and observe for at least 15 minutes until your eyes adjust to the darkness.
(2) History of the Geminids
The Geminids were first observed in 1862. At the time, only about 10 meteors per hour were visible, but the number gradually increased and reached the scale we see today.
2. What is the Geminid Meteor Shower?
One of the three major meteor showers, along with the Quadrantids and Perseids, this meteor shower has its radiant point near the star Alpha Gemini.
Although it is a cold season, winter is often sunny and the air is clear, allowing many shooting stars to be seen.
The parent body of the Geminids is the asteroid Phaethon, which has an orbit very similar to that of the Geminids, orbiting the Sun once every 1.43 years.
The asteroid Phaethon was once a comet, but it is now a celestial body that has released all of its volatile components, such as gas and dust. It is believed that this previously released dust is now orbiting in an orbit that intersects with the Earth’s orbit, creating the Geminid meteor shower.
3. The difference between a meteor and a comet
While both produce glowing tails, meteors are a phenomenon in which dust in space glows, while comets are small celestial bodies in the solar system.
Comets are small celestial bodies in the solar system made up of ice mixed with solid particles, and are also known as “dirty snowballs.” As they approach the Sun, the heat melts the ice, and the gas and particles released from their surface reflect the sunlight, making them appear shiny.
Their tails are formed by the solar wind, so they extend in the opposite direction from the Sun, regardless of their direction of travel.
Meteors are pieces of dust from space that enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, and the friction caused by this creates a glow.
Meteors also produce glowing tails, but they begin to glow at an altitude of around 100 kilometers, and most burn up at around 70 kilometers, so they only appear to glow for a moment when viewed from the Earth.
Also, because they are burning as they approach Earth, meteor tails extend behind their direction of travel.