Seeing Stars: Watch meteors and spot Cassiopeia the Queen this month

This differs from most meteor showers, which originate from the ‘dirty snowballs’ of the Solar System – comets. 

Because it is pieces of asteroid rock entering the Earth’s atmosphere from the Geminids, they tend to make much brighter ‘shooting stars’ than those from icy, dusty comets.

Regardless of the weather, conditions this year are not great for the Geminids as we will have an almost full moon which will compete with the meteors. However, as many Geminids are very bright, it will still be possible to see them, especially if you can block the direct view of the Moon using a building, wall or tree. 

Normally with a dark sky and no moon, you might catch 120 Geminid meteors passing over your head every hour but this year because of the moonlight you will likely see a lot less.

Look high overhead on a starry December evening and you will find the easily identifiable constellation of Cassiopeia, the Queen. You can use ‘The Plough’ to find Cassiopeia.

Draw an imaginary line from the pointers of ‘The Plough’ to Polaris, the North Star. Then keep going in a straight line and you will soon reach Cassiopeia. 

Cassiopeia is a bright constellation and is easy to locate because of its distinctive W or M shape. It is also always in the Kintyre night sky at any time of night, all year round. 

The brightest star in the constellation is Schedar. Its name is from the Arabic ‘sadr’, which means ‘breast’ and refers to the star’s position in the constellation, marking Cassiopeia’s heart. 

Also, Schedar points directly towards the Andromeda galaxy which you should see as a fuzzy blob.  

Cassiopeia used to be called Cassiopeia’s Chair and it only changed to Cassiopeia the Queen in the 1930s.

In Greek mythology, Cassiopeia was the queen of Ethiopia who boasted she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. Her boast angered Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Cassiopeia’s vanity resulted in her being bound to a chair and placed in the night sky so that, as she revolves around the North Star, she is sometimes in an upside-down position!

Other cultures around our planet saw the five stars of Cassiopeia as moose antlers or reindeer stags and the people of the Marshall Islands imagined Cassiopeia as part of a great porpoise constellation.