Australians will be able to witness a spectacular astronomical show when the planet passes through the annual Geminid meteor shower.
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Earth receives an end-of-year astral experience from the Gemini constellation each December but experts say this year's event in the early hours of Friday and Saturday will be marked by ideal conditions.
"If there's one meteor shower people are going to go see, this is the one to go watch," UNSW physics and astronomy senior lecturer Ben Montet told AAP.
There will be almost no light cast by the new moon to disrupt the meteor display, while Australia will also pass through the shower at night.
The nation is often too far south to see significant astral displays.
"Some years we get unlucky and pass through the dust cloud in the middle of the daytime, so you don't see it," Dr Montet said.
Meteor sizes and colours will vary, with some burning across the sky for several seconds.
"Most of them will be white, but some of them might be coloured, for instance, greenish," Macquarie University astronomer Professor Richard de Grijs said.
It is not known what causes the colour changes but it could be the composition of the meteors or conditions in the earth's atmosphere, he said.
Dr Montet said stargazers should look to the northwest and 30-40 degrees below the vertical to see the meteors.
"So kind of halfway between directly overhead and towards the horizon," he said.
Prof de Grijs said city stargazers had the best chance of seeing meteors if they used peripheral vision.
"Meteors go all over the sky and these ones tend to be fairly bright, so they will be visible from the sky as long as you don't look straight at it," he said.
The meteors are the crumbs of the giant asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which has an average diameter of more than 5km and is named after the son of the Greek sun god Helios.
Discovered in 1983, the asteroid travels on a lop-sided orbit which can mean it travels between the sun and Mercury and as far out in the solar system as Jupiter.
Despite the asteroid's size, Dr Montet said it presented no danger as its meteors were generally only one or two metres wide and burned up as they neared earth.
For the best chance of seeing the multicoloured meteor showers, stay up late and move away from highly populated areas.
In Western Australia and Queensland, the ideal time for viewing is just after 2am on Friday and Saturday, while for most eastern states the best hour will be about 3am.
Australian Associated Press
