By Glenn Hicks

Meteor shower brings dazzling display

Dec 14, 2018 | 4:00 PM

If you were out and about in the wee hours of this morning you may have caught a glimpse of an impressive light show.

The Geminid meteor shower reached its crescendo.

paNOW heard from local residents who saw the high-speed splashboard of colour before dawn on what was a clear and not too cold a night.

Melville-based James Edgar, a past president of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, explained the phenomenon.

“The meteor shower is a result of the earth passing through the remnants of a comet that is orbiting the sun,” he said. “It passed several years ago but it left a trail of dust particles.”

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Edgar pointed out those tiny particles, which are no more than the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, burn up as they enter the atmosphere as the earth sweeps across the dust path.

“We see these particles of dust but they’re moving really quickly — around 130,000 miles an hour,” he said.

At its peak, the display showered the skies with more than 100 shooting stars an hour.

With files from Ron Quaroni

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow