Minnesota Patrol Dashcams Catch Amazing Views of Meteors Streaking Across the Sky
It pays to look up in the sky and check out the stars. And right now, if you are lucky enough, you just might get to see a meteor as it enters Earth's atmosphere. If you are luckier, you'll get it on camera.
One Pine County Sheriff's Deputy was lucky enough to catch an epic view of a meteor streaking across the sky on camera early Wednesday morning. While it is a short clip that was released on the Pine County Sheriff's Office Facebook Page, but you can see the meteor below.
According to EarthSky, the Geminid Meteor Shower is happening this week, peaking December 13-14 with 50 or more meteors per hour. Your best chance to see a Geminid meteor is around 2am in a dark, clear sky.
Geminid meteors tend to be bold, white and quick. This shower favors Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, but it’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere, too. The curious rock comet called 3200 Phaethon is the parent body of this shower.
Minnesota State Patrol caught one of the Geminid Meteors on video Thursday night:
Some call these shooting stars or falling stars but they are not actually stars. They are meteors, according to stardate.org.
"Shooting stars" and "falling stars" are both names that describe meteors -- streaks of light across the night sky caused by small bits of interplanetary rock and debris called meteoroids vaporizing high in Earth's upper atmosphere. Traveling at tens of thousands of miles an hour, meteoroids quickly ignite from the searing friction with the atmosphere, 30 to 80 miles above the ground. Almost all are destroyed in this process; the rare few that survive and hit the ground are known as meteorites."
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