The meteor shower known as jaminids due to its origin will culminate tonight and will appear in dark places • All details on the celestial show tonight

• Meteor shower. Even in our night sky tonight (December 13) // Photo: Reuters

Prepare wish list: Popular belief says when you see a falling star (meteor) you should make a wish as many are likely to materialize ... and tonight (Friday), December 13 to 14, there is a certain chance of seeing more stars fall, this is the time of the meter Meteors called "jaminids".

Of course, the scientific truth is different. The meteors are the total amount of rock or dust that burns in the Earth's atmosphere leaving a spectacular trail also known as a "falling star." In fact, no star really falls, but we simply witness the burning of the meteor in the atmosphere. So even without wishing, it is an extraordinary and beautiful experience Especially and the following lines are meant to explain to us a little about those meteors and what is special about the meteor shower of the night:

Our Earth is a sort of cosmic "vacuum cleaner". The earth's gravitational pull attracts dust and small "rocks" in space. These dust grains move at tremendous speeds and when they meet the Earth's atmosphere, the friction created between them and the air particles causes them to burn. When they are burned, the great heat generated causes the air near them to also heat and emit light. It's the light that looks like a strip of light in the sky. When the continuation of the light bars reaches a certain point in the sky that is in some constellation, it is customary to call meteors by the name of this group.

So what's special tonight?

To understand this you should know the creators of interstellar dust: the comet and the asteroid. The comet is a perforated block of ice containing dust and other materials. As it approaches the sun, it emits gases and dust that make up it, creating a "dirt" path in the shape of its orbit.

The asteroid can also release particles of dust as it moves on its way to the sun. The Earth, in its usual motion around the sun, sometimes crosses a comet or asteroid orbit, and "draws" this dust, which is, in fact, tiny stones. The result of this pumping results in "rain" (meters) of meteors.

On the night of December 13 and 14 this year, Earth crosses the path of the Pathon 3200, once a comet and has now lost all its ice (now called the "extinct asteroid comet"), and draws the dust left by the asteroid. So that night we see a lot of relative meteors (even more than 100 per hour).

Where to watch?

This year, 2019, the moon is expected to shine after sunset and illuminate the sky at maximum intensity (full moon). In addition, the moon will accompany us throughout the night, and will therefore greatly interfere with the observation.

However, the jiminids can be relatively brighter so it is still worthwhile to head out into a dark place for midnight between December 13 and December 14 and despite the moon, try to "hunt" for bright meteors. If the meteoric lines continue to form, they meet in the "Gemini" group, so the meter is called "Jiminids". Note that the jiminoid meter will show a few days before and after the peak, which occurred on 14.12, but it is of course better to observe the meter at its peak.

Dr. Ronnie Mualem is the head of the astronomy department at Technode Hadera