KU teacher captures meteor shower

A faculty member of the Institute of Space Science and Technology University of Karachi Engineer Absar Ahmed Khan captured a meteor shower on the night of December 13, 2020.

The Institute of Space Science and Technology, University of Karachi faculty member captured the meteor shower here on Sunday night.

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According to statement by the varsity, Engineer Absar Ahmed Khan recorded the celestial event of the meteors shower in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky.

Khan said that Pakistan lies in the Northern Hemisphere and a proper view of the portents was visible on Sunday night. He said that these meteors are commonly known as shooting stars.

According to him, the Geminid Meteor Shower, popularly known as the King of Meteor Showers graced the night sky on December 13 and is expected to continue on the night of December 14 as well.

“As these particular showers originate from the Geminid Constellation that is why they are named after that," he said.

He said that Geminid shower rate was even better this year as the showers peak overlapped with a nearly new moon, so there were darker skies and no moonlight to wash out the fainter meteors.

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However, he pointed out that since Karachi is heavily polluted by light, it gets difficult to capture these meteor showers on camera, but they were seen from the naked eye by constantly staring at the vast sky.

Engineer Khan said that various attempts have been made to capture at least one visible shower by the KU ISST. These meteor showers plunge into the Earth’s atmosphere at 22 miles per second and when they vaporize in the streaks, we call them shooting stars.

According to the Astronomer Francis Reddy, meteor shower is a glowing trail caused by the incineration of a piece of celestial debris entering our atmosphere. Many meteors are quick flashes, but some last long enough for us to track their brief course across the sky, he says.