Dubai Astronomy Group Invites You to Incredible Meteor Shower

A meteor shower is expected to light up the UAE skies with around 120 shooting stars to be seen per hour, according to the Dubai Astronomy Group.

It is an annual phenomenon in December called the Geminid meteor shower and is one of the most anticipated meteor showers.

The shooting stars are to be seen from December 4 and 16, but the evenings of December 13 and 14 are when it’s expected to reach its peak.

According to the European Space Agency: “The shower appears to originate from a point in the constellation Gemini near the stars Castor and Pollux, but you do not have to look there – just watch whatever part of your sky offers the darkest view.”

The agency also said: “The Geminid meteoroids are tiny bits of rocky debris, sand-grains to pea-size, shed from a small asteroid named Phaethon.”

“Over the centuries, these particles have spread along the asteroid’s orbit to form a moving ‘river of rubble’ hundreds of millions of kilometres long. Earth’s own annual orbit around the Sun carries us through this stream of particles every mid-December.”

The Dubai Astronomy Group is invites residence to a night under the stars on December 13 at Al Razeen desert, Abu Dhabi on Monday, December 13, from 10pm to 4am. 

Follow this link to register.