The Geminids meteor shower is visible in Saskatchewan’s night sky for anyone still looking to see the display.
Saskatoon’s Meewasin Valley Authority is holding an event Friday night at the Beaver Creek Conservation Area after Thursday’s event got postponed due to cloudy weather.
Samantha Cowan, tourism coordinator with Meewasin, said there will be a workshop with Living Sky Guy Tim Yaworski for people looking to learn how to take photos of meteor showers or other sky events.
The event is sold out, but Meewasin hosts other similar events, including their Northern Lights Workshop on Feb. 8.
“It’s fantastic that we’re selling out these events,” Cowan said.
She said the response shows that people are keen to learn about the sky — and also support Meewasin.
“Get ready to learn a lot. I learn something new on every one of these,” Cowan said, adding that Meewasin is looking to host other celestial events in the new year.
Living Sky Guy Tim Yaworski spoke on Tuesday, describing the Geminids meteor shower as the Earth passing through space debris, comparing it to driving down a gravel road and kicking up stones. “So when we go through that ‘gravel road,’ instead of kicking up rocks in the windshield, they’re burning up in the atmosphere.”
Yaworski also said the Geminids are unique. “Most meteor showers are caused by the debris left by a comet. With the Geminids, it’s the debris from an asteroid.”
He said the Geminids are a relatively new meteor shower that was first observed in 1862, whereas the Perseid meteor shower has been seen as far back as 36 A.D.
Yaworski said the overall peak of the meteor shower will see about 120 to 160 meteors per hour, but said in Saskatchewan, it’s more realistic to see about 20 to 30 an hour.
According to the NASA website, people who want to see the Geminids should look toward the constellation Gemini, which gives the shower its name.