Topic: The Geminid meteor shower (Dec. 13th-14th)

[nomad]

For all of you insomniacs... poke your head outside and look up in the early predawn morning:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/06dec_geminids/

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: The Geminid meteor shower peaks this year on Dec. 13th and 14th.  Forecasters say meteor rates could exceed 100 per hour for observers under dark rural skies.  For best results, start your meteor watch on Monday night, Dec. 13th, around midnight.  Keep an eye out for Geminids until sunrise on Tuesday, Dec. 14th. There's no special trick to seeing the Geminids.  Bundle up for maximum warmth, go outside, lie down and look up. Geminids can appear in any part of the sky, but all their tails will point back to the radiant in the constellation Gemini.  Check http://spaceweather.com for updates, images and a sky map.

[sangyo soichiro]

Thanks for the reminder.     One of nature's fireworks.

[Bob Wessner]

You want me to lay down in the snow at midnight?!   

[Grnrngr]

You want me to lay down in the snow at midnight?!   

When I look up, all I get is eyes full of rain....    

[kirkn]

I always thought the Geminid meteor shower was in June, with the Perseid shower being in November.

This past summer, my kids and I watched and saw a SPECTACULAR show - many many meteors and one or two really large, long trails!

The November show was a bit less exciting.  Only a handful of short, dim trails.

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up.  I'll be out there, maybe not at midnight, but before dawn.

[Bob Wessner]

The Perseid is visible from mid-July each year, with it's peak around the second-third week of August. Weather permitting, my wife and I get to see them in the western U.P. of Michigan on vacation. Very little terrestrial light pollution over there.

[Markcb750]

Even here in light polluted Charlotte NC I can see significant trails every year when I go out after midnight.  I like to take my wide field binoculars and pick an area toward the Orion to see if I can catch one or two.