Tonight’s Peak Geminid Meteor Shower Live-Streamed on YouTube

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department has announced on Dec. 13, in a government press release, that the Space Museum will be organising a live stream of the Geminid meteor shower from 9 PM to 11 PM tonight.

The annual Geminid meteor shower takes mid-December each year, with an active timeline from Nov. 19 to Dec. 24. Tonight, the meteor peak befalls on Hong Kong.

It is estimated that during it’s peak at 9 PM tonight, the hourly rate of the meteor shower may potentially reach up to 150 meteors – which is the highest number of meteors among all the meteor showers this year.

The Space Museum plans to live-stream the meteor shower to help the public observe and learn from the phenomenon.

During a meteor shower, meteors appear to comes from a point, known as the radiant, which is the constellation Gemini. The radiant of the Geminid meteor shower will rise in the northeast around 7:30 PM and the number of meteors are expected to increase as the radiant climbs higher in the sky.

Observing conditions are nonetheless affected by the position of the shower, the moonlight, and local light pollution. For people hoping to observe the shower, the best estimated viewing time is from 10 PM to 11 PM, during which viewers watching in remote areas can hope to see ten to twenty meteors.

The LSCD added that while there will be many meteors, the bright moonlight forecast may outshine many of these meteors and degrade observation conditions. It is recommended to watch the shower from a place with little light pollution and a wide field of view, such as a park, field, or rooftop.

To watch the livestream of the Geminid meteor shower, click here.