Geminids shower

maksutover · #1 09-12-2007, 11:11 AM

Hello All

I curious to know how impressive the geminids shower which is going to be at its peak on Friday will be? Could someone enlighten me with the exact time and direction to be looking on Friday morning??

Cheers.

dannat (Daniel) · #2 09-12-2007, 02:50 PM

After 11:00pm you should be able to catch one or two, I think it peaks at 16:45UT on the 14th Dec, so add 10 or 10.5 or 11 depending on where you are. Gemini doesn't rise till about 3:00am, in the N. I read we may see up to 20hr, though in the Nth Hemi they can expect up to 80. I think you should see something for week or so before/after this date
hope this helps. good luck and good hunting.

ps. the interesting bit about geminids is that they originate from an asteroid, Phaethon thought to be an extinct comet.

Blue Skies (Jacquie) · #3 09-12-2007, 06:49 PM

It's not Friday morning you want this year but Saturday morning - UT 16.45 would be (mm, lets see add 11 hours...for daylights savings time...) for you 3.45am Sat morning. You'll want to be looking north-ish. Most meteors are seen 40-60 degrees away from the radiant so you don't really want to be looking directly at it, but at adjacent areas.

No one ever knows exactly what the display will be like. I think that is half the attraction of watching meteor showers, you might just see something spectacular....but you might also see reduced rates. But that's how it goes.

maksutover · #4 09-12-2007, 09:14 PM

ok so its 16.45 UT so for me in sydney its +10 which is 2.45 am on saturday morning. Ill eagerly wait and pray for a clear sky!!!

Outbackmanyep · #5 09-12-2007, 10:00 PM

I wouldn't mind getting up for this....if it isnt cloudy.....

circumpolar (Matt) · #6 10-12-2007, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maksutover

ok so its 16.45 UT so for me in sydney its +10 which is 2.45 am on saturday morning. Ill eagerly wait and pray for a clear sky!!!

Your forgetting Day Light Savings. +11 hours in Sydney = 3:45am Saturday.

I wouldn't get to excited about the exact time of peak. Any time between midnight and dawn will be ok.

Astro78 · #7 10-12-2007, 11:34 PM

I'm so on the deck come 3.45am Saturday!

UpsizeThis · #8 15-12-2007, 01:41 AM

I was out having a look with some binoculars last night/this morning, between 11:30pm - 12:30pm (Brisbane time). There was a bit of meteor activity. I soon gave up once the low cloud cover came back across though. I might go out for another look in an hour or so. Fingers crossed.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #9 15-12-2007, 01:42 AM

Cloud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

norm · #10 15-12-2007, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Cloud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clear Skies here Ken for a change

Saw 3 in literally a short space of time (01:10), less than 5mins looking N, NNE, 85degrees up. Then saw only 2 after and called it a night..
Would have liked to have stayed up longer.....those bloody Mozzies and couldn't find the Aerogard either!

bloodhound31 · #11 15-12-2007, 09:16 AM

My wife and I sat out for 25 minutes last night, right on the peak. We were told the geminids could show 100 meteors and hour or so.
In 25 minutes we saw ONE.....

Every time I have taken the time and effort to watch a meteor shower on advice from those who are supposed to be in the know, I have been extremely disappointed.

In future I think that unless someone rings me up and says "go have a look outside, the sky is on fire" I think Ill stay in and watch anothere episode of stargate...

Outbackmanyep · #12 15-12-2007, 10:04 AM

I know the feeling Barry,
I stayed up until 1:30 i was too tired, matchsticks couldn't keep my eyes open!!, i had a camera set up and opened the shutter then fell asleep and woke up periodically to end the shot. In and out of sleep, my sleeping bag drenched in dew.....i could have slept there all night but.....i might try and stay up tonight for a little while and keep my eyes out!

I saw a few, very faint ones and short lived but nothing big and exciting.....

erick (Eric) · #13 15-12-2007, 10:40 AM

My first real meteor shower! I'm quite thrilled with what I saw.

Partly cloudy skies were forecast for where I am for the weekend - outside of Mittagong in NSW.

Set the alarm for 2pm - rubbed eyes and looked out the window - horizon to horizon stars! Wake up quickly! Get dressed and outside.

Even before my eyes adjusted, two meteors went by in quick succession, clearly from a Geminid radiant.

I settled down and watched for two hours. I saw a handful of sporadics, and probably over 20 Geminids. I'm sure I missed a lot of others - looking elsewhere in the sky or my eyes dropping closed several times for a few minutes!

I was fascinated by how slow they were. They didn't whizz across the sky, just sort of "trucked" across. I saw a few low ones that seemed to go "up" rather then "down"? Just a matter of perspective, I guess. A few were reasonably bright, some "fizzled" and left a persistent trail.

Good fun and well worth losing some sleep. I also ran around the favourites with my 12x60s. Orion was crystal clear, same with Eta Carina. The Pleides sparkled. A hint of Saturn's rings. Mars blazing down. Picked out a few open and globular clusters. Omega Centauri and 47 Tuc are nice but not as spectacular at this low magnification. Located M104's location, but it being a bit low and in the Sydney glow, I couldn't convince myself that a faint fuzzy was there - but good starhopping practice. A final look at the Jewel Box (NGC 4755) as I bid farewell to the night.

Eric

jinxsta · #14 15-12-2007, 10:42 AM

Well I stayed up till 4am and was disapointed in the show not a lot of action
but I was also checking out things with my first scope till the dew dreched my sleeping bag, the mozzies took thier pint of blood and I was nodding of in the chair.

edwardsdj (Doug) · #15 15-12-2007, 02:19 PM

I went out with my friend Tony last night (14/12/2007) to a picnic ground near Wivenhoe dam just West of Brisbane. We arrived at about midnight and stayed until well into the twilight around 4am.

We immediately saw several meteors within the first minutes of arrival. We saw around 30 between midnight and 1 am but many of them were not Geminids! Thick cloud moved in between 1am and 2am and then cleared to patchy cloud for most of the rest of the night.

The sky was clear around the predicted peak of 2:45am AEST. Meteor activity was much lower around this time than between midnight and 1am.

Many of the meteors were not Geminds but seemed to be coming from a second radiant towards the East (saw around 10 between midnight and 1am from this second radiant). Did anyone else see this?

There may also have been a third radiant in the South around Crux/Centaurus with activity around 5 per hour.

I have always found the Geminids to be characterised by periods of intense activity followed by long periods of nothing (often around 15 minutes long) and last night was no exception to this. The activity of the second radiant in the East filled in the gaps in the Geminds though. I've never noticed this radiant before.

Many of the meteors were slow and many left trains that persisted for several seconds. Didn't see anything I would have described as a fireball though. I've usually seen several fireballs when watching the Geminids in the past.

Due to the activity of at least two radiants in widely different parts of the sky as well as the sporadics this was the best meteor show I've seen in many years.

Have fun,
Doug