With a clear night sky, stargazers gathered on Friday night, December 13th, at Seba Park, located on Gerritsen and Seba Avenues, to view the Geminids meteor shower and other celestial objects.
The Marine Park Alliance organized the event in coordination with Assistant Scoutmaster Paul Jones, Scout Troop 396, who provided the telescope and binoculars to see the night sky. People also used an app called Star Tracker Lite to identify the objects they were looking at.
This meteor shower, the Geminids, is observed during mid-December each year. At its peak, more than 100 meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions. However, the Geminids are a unique meteor shower as they come from an asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, as opposed to other meteor showers, which come from comets.
“It was great to show people the universe,” said Jones. “I’m very happy that we had a great crowd and a lot of kids and people saw the planets for the first time with their own eyes, and it was incredible to see.”
With the Celestine motorized telescope, the stargazers saw our planetary neighbors. Attendees saw Venus right before it set, Jupiter and four of its moons, the rings of Saturn and, at the very end, Mars, rising above the horizon.
“This is kinda like a once-in-a-lifetime thing; how often are you going to be able to see so many shooting stars? I could make all my wishes tonight,” said Demetra Philippou of Mill Basin. Her daughter agreed with mild excitement.
The cold weather didn’t keep a group from gathering in awe to view the meteor shower with their very own eyes.
“You’d think, ‘Oh, it’s too cold,’ but no, people enjoyed it,” said Margot Perron, MPA board member. “If they dress well and are ready for it, families will bring their kids; it’s an outing for them. Personally, I think the park is a special place at night and the more programs that we can do like this, the better. People experiencing the park at night is uncommon, but it was amazing and fun.”
The last Festival of Lights event—”Winter Solstice”—will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 21st, at the field behind Seba Playground, at Gerritsen and Seba Avenues. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and with more telescopes on hand, residents are invited once more to see the stars.
This actually answered my downside, thanks!