Hi guys, we are interested in getting good views of the meteor shower at it's peak tomorrow morning.
Anyone have any idea whereabouts in Melbourne will be good for views? I understand we need to be as far north as possible so I was thinking Mount Macedon area. Any suggestions? Thanks!
How far out from Melbourne central is far enough ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AussieTrooper
Dark skies are important for meteor watching. Head as far north of Melbourne as you can.
I've never tried to see meteors before, so I don't know how dark the skies need to be to see any of these Geminids. I read a post that suggested it was necessary to be 100km+ out of Melbourne central to see meteors. Seems like a long way.
I'm in Nunawading (eastern Melbourne suburb, about 25km from city center). I understand that further out from the city will be darker and darker is better, however how far out of Melbourne will I need to go to see any of these Geminids meteors with the naked eye ?
Eg is Coldstream (about 50km from city center) far enough out ?
I ask because I want to take my young kids and I want them to be able to see something, but at the same time I want to minimise their travel time.
Full overcast here, and radar showing showers/storm heading this way. Hot and very humid outside aswell. Ofcourse, tonight HAD to be that ONE overcast night
Saw 17 Geminids over the last 3 hours from my balcony. Given the light pollution, patchy cloud and the fact that I could only see a third of the sky, I'm quite happy.
well I took images from 9pm right through until 4am when the fog set in. scrolling through the 1000 odd images I took I got a helicopter and a plane but no meteors at all. bugger
Being a work day the next day limited my viewing to 90 minutes or so, 11:00 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. But did manage to see 5 weak streakers through the mist that was developing. I don't think I would have seen much more if I had stayed out, the sky was getting lighter (misty, foggy, cloudy) by the minute.
I got 6 between 10 and midnight. 4 weak ones, one out of the corner of my eye and one quite one bright exactly where I happened to be looking.
Beautiful evening for it too
I've never tried to see meteors before, so I don't know how dark the skies need to be to see any of these Geminids. I read a post that suggested it was necessary to be 100km+ out of Melbourne central to see meteors. Seems like a long way.
I'm in Nunawading (eastern Melbourne suburb, about 25km from city center). I understand that further out from the city will be darker and darker is better, however how far out of Melbourne will I need to go to see any of these Geminids meteors with the naked eye ?
Eg is Coldstream (about 50km from city center) far enough out ?
I ask because I want to take my young kids and I want them to be able to see something, but at the same time I want to minimise their travel time.
Thanks,
Declan
You'll see more from Coldstream. To get a good view, you need the view to the north a non-light polluted region. Since you are effectively inside the bubble looking out (even from Coldstream), you will still lose some, but it will be better than Nunawading.
Here’s a light pollution map that you might find useful. http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html
That said, you should still be able to see some of the brighter ones from Nunawading. I'm well inside the red zone (Balwyn) and still see the occasional meteor.
I got one good shot out of the ~30 that I saw in a few hours. Too much light pollution from suburban Perth (25km north of CBD near coast) to get them all on camera as they were very faint, but it was a good show.
Geminids MYSTERY from Yorke Peninsula South Australia
Well what a frustrating evening. Cloud cover made viewing and focusing difficult. I ran two cameras on time lapse from midnight to about 3AM local time. I had clear(ish) skies around 1:30AM which was supposed to be the peak of the shower. But only spotted 6 or seven meteors in my pics. I posted a time lapse (apologies for soft focus on the stars - bummer).
I did come across a mystery however. A shot at 1:43am local time shows a bright star like object south of the southern cross but is not in frame before or after that single shot. Any ideas would be appreciated. I posted the three shots below. Maybe a remnant of exploding meteor - but no trail? Again very soft focus!
Clear skies in Northern Tas last night. I was up at 1:30am and saw a couple but not a lot. Didn't stay out too long. Bloody street lights killed the dark skies though. Might try again tonight.
It must of been good though because we saw some flashes through the cloud layer to the North, It wasn't lightning.
Geminids MYSTERY from Yorke Peninsula South Australia
