Geminid meteor shower

[Liz]

This is a pretty reliable meteor shower that is on currently.
It runs from about December 7th - 17th, an peak for us on the morning of the 14th, though the day before and after should be Ok too.
These are little remnants left over from an object called 3200 Phaethon, which is a rocky asteroid like object. Earth runs into its stream every mid December, allowing us to witness some lovely meteors.
This should be a good year as there is no Moon to interfere with the views. The radiant rises just before midnight, and is just below Castor (in Gemini), and best time should be from 2-4 am thereabouts.
More info http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/06dec_geminids/

I have seen quite a few Geminids over the years, typically before midnight, though the peak is afterwards.
Suzy may have glimpsed some last night??
I popped outside this am from 0345 -0430 hrs, and only saw one little one plopped into Orion, but thats it.
Will try again in a couple of nights. :)

[Analog6]

If it ever stops RAINING at night I might get to see them. We haven't had a clear night/early morning for over a month now.

[jjjnettie]

Fingers crossed we get some more clear skies. haven't seen a decent meteor shower for 5 years.

[Liz]

I know jjj .... I usually try and get out for a look, but end up seeing minimal meteors. :sadeyes:
Will keep on trying though, cos 1 day .......... kaboom!!

Hope you get some clear skies too Odille. :thumbsup:

[BLiTZWiNG]

I'm glad you mentioned this. I somehow got it in my head that it was the 10th, but now checking my outlook calendar I have it listed as 12am on the 15th. Go figure.

[ZeroID]

Might climb up a small volcano in the back yard to get a better squizz at them, couple of hundred meters above the city funk helps.

[Binca]

I have only been into astronomy for around a year, off and on. So never seen a meteor shower that I can think of, really looking forward to this! The skies better be clear! Where is the best direction to look? I am the type of person who could easily stand facing the wrong way, or spin in circles, and miss everything D=

[BLiTZWiNG]

I believe they are called the Geminids because they originate in the constellation of Gemini. Of course, I couldn't tell you where to find that.

[Binca]

Well, that does make sense. Typical me not to think of that.. :/ I can find constellations easy enough.

[erick]

Here you go, Bianca - much the same as this (even though it is from 9 years ago!)

Bit of reading here:- http://earthsky.org/tonight/radiant-point-for-geminid-meteor-shower

[Binca]

Thankyou, that is really helpful :)

[BLiTZWiNG]

Oh yay. Near Orion, the most common place I look to in the sky :)

[mozzie]

hi liz
had a session in the scope last night and finished around 4.30 seen around 6 geminids there may have been more but you miss a lot in the eyepiece!!!
they were short but nice and bright!!!!

[RobF]

I want KABOOM Liz! :)

One day......
Just imagine hundreds an hour........:eyepop:

[Binca]

"Oh yay. Near Orion, the most common place I look to in the sky"

-high fives- I love that constellation. I think it was Orion, and the great nebula, that really got me into astronomy last year :D

[Liz]

Yeah, well done Mozzie for catching a few!! :thumbsup:

Absolutely Rob, Kaboom would be great, though Leonid storm was pretty well Kaboom . :D

Yes, Trent, Orion will be good to chill out and watch as the Geminids fall into it. ;)

Good luck Bianca - if you check out the constellations around Gemini, you should be able to catch quite a few. :)

[cookie8]

Tonight will be the only clear night for a while according to the Bureau. The only window for us Sydneysiders. I will definitely have a go.

[luigi]

I've always been curious about which is the best meteor shower for the SH, I guess this is it?
I'll try from Argentina, need to prepare my ground 2 cloud missils as the weather is particularly crazy at this side of the globe.

Forecast for today:
Morning: Sunny 17C
Aft: Showers 34C

Reality:
Morning: Showers, 20C
Aft: Sunny 25C

This happens every day!

[Trixie]

Thanks so much for posting the info... I wasnt sure what the best time was to see them.... Not that we are likely to see anything here in yucky cold cloudy Adelaide!

[Kevnool]

No clouds tonight tmie to get the bannana lounge out and look up.

Cheers kev.

[ZeroID]

Clouds, light rain, misty skies, ........ I'll go open another bottle of wine, may as well. :sadeyes: :shrug:

AND,... we're supposed to be going on a Xmas Company BBQ at the Beach today .... :rolleyes:

[Suzy]

My daughter and I were doing some bino observing and we caught three of them within a half hour time frame! :D She saw two (10mins apart if that) and I got one. Mozzie was spot on - they are short but bright. At the time, I didn't know this meteor shower was happening and I thought to myself "what's the going on.." :lol: I found out from Liz the next day on facebook :thumbsup:. I was very lucky to have been outside at the right time, and even luckier that the skies cleared (somewhat) after so many weeks.

[Liz]

Well, a couple is better than none Suzy, hope you catch some more.

Skippy Sky shows east coast of Qld under cloud, but NSW and Vic look better.

[Binca]

Hmm, the sky is partially clear at the moment, so I am going to take advantage and go outside with my binoculars and maybe telescope. And also keep an eye out for the shower.. mind you, I don't want to stay up too late tonight as I have a child safety course to go to tomorrow.. so I probably wont spot anything, meteor shower wise anyway.

[astroron]

Doesn't look promising again here:shrug: lots of rain still about with not much relief in sight:sadeyes::mad2:

[Crusader]

I had an observing dry run last night, trying to find the best observation spot in my backyard. Managed to bag about 15 meteors in a 3 hour period. Of those I'd estimate about 7 being Geminids.

Will try again tonight and then at the peak. Last year I was clouded out at the time of the peak, so hopefully this year I'd be able to get the full view.

[Kevnool]

Woke up early stood out the back of the house looking up and caught 3 bright ones , Slow moving really.

One spuratic fireball crossed fron south to north very bright and fast tearing itself apart in Orion that was about 4.15 CST.

Keep looking
Cheers Kev.

[Liz]

Great to see a few, well done Crusader, good luck for tonight/morning. :thumbsup:





Woohoo Kev, lucky you !! Cloudy here though, fingers crossed for tonight/tomorrow am. ;)

[Suzy]

There is another thread running on the event at the moment, and Ian Maclean posted a link with some fabulous information on it. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Geminids-Meteor-Shower-in-2009&id=869977

My gosh, finally today the sun is shining and I see blue skies amongst lots of gaps at the moment. Oh please please let there be clear skies for this event tonight. :prey::prey::prey:


:xmas::xmas::xmas:

Merry Christmas Everyone

[Liz]

Yes Suzy, Ian writes a fine article indeed. :thumbsup:
Clear here at the moment, bugger, that often means cloudy tonight ... or maybe not.
Fingers and toes crossed for us all for clear skies!!!! :prey::reindeer:

[Liz]

Bugger, here come the clouds and storms. :cloudy:

[BLiTZWiNG]

I blame you Suzy!

Though, it's still sunny here... but I reserve the right to blame you now!

[Crusader]

Did another dry run last night. Things are definitely ramping up. Between 23:00 and 01:00 I counted 21 of which 2 were transients. There must have been a fireball as well. I saw the flash, but the rest was hidden behind surrounding houses.

I'm all set for tonight, provided the weather holds.

[Liz]

Well done Crusader ... you are doing the best outa all of us!!

It is presently pouring rain here in North Queensland, but better now than in 6 hrs time. :D

[Binca]

Currently I have clear skies, so very excited! =D Despite needing to get up at 7.30 tomorrow morning, I also plan to get up at 1.30 to watch for meteors for a bit :P

[Astroman]

I'll be heading out to the Freeling area to have a look tonight, got to get away from these lights. Got to get up early too, so might as well be around 1am :)

[Liz]

Am also excited!! Has been raining and thundering, but supposed to clear later!! Have mozzie proff clothiog to put on at 11pm ish, and .... bring it on!!
Good luck all!!

[Suzy]

:lol::lol::reindeer::reindeer::rein deer::face::mad:

I see gaps, I have a feeling it will get better for later tonight:question: Yep, I'm feeling positive and feeling good :D.
Blitzwing get ready to hail me with bowdown emoticons if I'm correct. :D:lol:

[jenchris]

Well the sky to the East looks lovely, M42 is clear - Betelgeuse and Sirius are a bit twinkly though so seeing is a bit warm still

[jjjnettie]

I think I might get lucky tonight. ;)
Clouds have being coming and going.
The mount is still set up from earlier this evening. So I'm ready for anything. :P

[jenchris]

Clamped mine to the fence - just smack it onto 20 second exposures and away we go

[BLiTZWiNG]

I went out there 10 mins ago, beautiful clear sky. Pulled up a chair and bang, instant 100% cloud cover. I swear there is a conspiracy going on here.

[jjjnettie]

It's wall to wall here.

[adman]

clear-ish in Brisbane - a few clouds passing over - but not many meteors....

[Suzy]

I collected 7 between 11.30 & 12.30! A couple of them were so short they didn't leave Gemini at all. Between 11.30 & 12 the clouds played a dance between clear and clouded over and from about 12am on nice and clear. Gave it up when Gemini went behind a huge tree. An enjoyable night, I'm happy with my bag of goodies. :D

Now, didn't I say it would clear tonight?! :P Where are my bowdown emoticons :question: And don't forget to say, "oh hail weather Suzy". :D:lol:. Seems I have this gift of communication with the sky ..:question: Sheez, sometimes it just pays to be cocky and full of confidence :D If you want to know next weeks weather report, I feel I may be in demand so you may be put on a waiting list. And why is it that my head feels this pressure building.. oh yes, that's my ego swelling :P:lol::lol:.

[astroron]

Suzy,your forecast was no good for here:shrug:,it was cloudy nearly all night:mad2:
Suzy Willkie ;):lol:

[DarkRevenge]

Clear skies here, too. Yesterday night I stayed outside some hours, but couldn't see anything.
I have invited some friends for tonight so I hope we have a clear night.

Good luck to everyone ;)

Cheers, Luis.

[Suzy]

You're not in Brisbane :P:lol:.
It's a shame the clouds affected you so badly out there in the dark skies, sometimes it just pays to observe from suburbia :P:lol:. At least you got a couple of them though. :)

[Crusader]

I'm off to take a preemptive nap. 4 hours before I get my chance. Very windy but no clouds. ;)

[bartman]

Its 1 am Perth time and only seen one ( rather bright in the corner of my view) but was more near Aldeberan, south to north. Nothing in the direction of my birth sign!:(
Ill keep taking pics just in the hope....
Bartman

[seanliddelow]

From Helena Valley, Perth, WA I saw 18 meteors in 75 minutes. That gives me a ZHR (Note that Gemini wasn't exactly at Zenith) of 14.4. However some of those weren't Geminids. Lets say 13 where, that gives me a Geminid ZHR of 10.4. This observation was from moderately light polluted skies with me only looking at half the sky for 60% of the time, so I expect rates are better elsewhere. The Geminids are expected to peak tommorow afternoon in Australia, when it is dawn in America, with a ZHR of 120. Good viewing should still be achievable tommorow. Most of the Geminids I saw where yellow, moving quite slowly and with a moderate brightness.

Hope this helps:thumbsup:, Sean

[luigi]

Beautiful clear skies at Buenos Aires, I´ll be out all night long hunting. We´ll see what happens at the peak hour. Weather is fine, not a lot of mosquitoes and warm!

:eyepop:

[bartman]

Heya Sean,
I've been outside for the last Hour and only seen 6- 2 of them definitly Gems the others prob chi orionids or monocerodis.
So what am I doing wrong?? heheheh.
Its not the best seeing here in Midland but I thought I would see at least what you are getting...
I'm still capturing with my camera and will keep doing so for a little while.
I'll post some pics if I get something ( I think I got a beauty but ....)

What time was the peak here in WA?

Thanks
Bartman

[Binca]

I got up from 1.30-2.30 my time last night (well this morning) and I saw nothing. It didn't help that most of the time a thin layer of cloud was covering gemini and at times trying to cover orion. Not happy. :( Still, what did partially make up for it was some very pretty star cluster I saw when I was just randomly gazing through my binos. Don't know what cluster, but it looked great! =D

[bartman]

so here is a pic.....thought it would be a bit more than just the one I caught....
Bartman

[ZeroID]

Clouds, rain, more clouds, more rain :sadeyes: ..and the forecast is ... you guessed it :cloudy: :rain: :shrug:
At least the garden is getting some desperately needed water. :rain:

[DarkRevenge]

Good to know that, Luis... I'm looking forward to see some images from you ;)

Cheers, Luis 2.

[erick]

Sat out until it completely clouded over - before the radiant rose. :sadeyes: So no meteors to report from here.

[Heath]

Hi,

I caught this little one on the 4th of December. Would this just be a random one? or an early flight from Geminoid?

Regards H

[Crackers]

Managed 8 and a handful of random ones but gave up because of the conditions. Sky was covered in a haze that made everything look like it was from a 70's Playboy mag - you got the general idea of what was going on, but the soft focus washed out all of the detail. Wouldn't have minded if it put in a decent effort and formed cloud, but haze gives you the hope that things might get better. Grrrr.:mad2:

[Liz]

Yeah, clear skies up here!!
Observed 0030 - 0130 .... saw about 18 meteors. About 14 of those Gems, mostly bright and short, 1 lovely long bright one.
Inside to recharge the battery a little, and lay down.
0230 - 0330 ... saw about 10 more meteors.
Took quite a few pics - relaxing in a chair and pressing the cable release, but a lot of moisture in air, and lens fogging up = not good pics, but get a few. Falling asleep in my chair/lens fogged = bedtime.
Overall, a great night with lots meteors seen, not KABOOM though. ;)

Great pics Bart and Heath!!

[jenchris]

Took a lot of these Gemini star groups!
only saw 12 in 3 hours and I would have to say that only about 8 originated in Gemini

[jenchris]

Even towards carina and the milky way, there was only a plane

[Liz]

Oooops, forgot to add a couple of pics - apologies for the foggy pic, but there is a meteor there. :D
1 little short Gem in each.

[Crusader]

I had a great night! Just got inside and from 23:00 to 02:10 I caught 63 meteors. Of those I think about 7 or so were transients and the rest Geminids.

I ran out of wishes ;)

[jenchris]

Swine. I hope your hands hurt. Catching all those - anyone would think you were a bladdy cricketter

[iceman]

Terrible story on news.com.au today:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/best-meteor-shower-of-the-year-the-geminids-on-display-for-the-world-this-afternoon/story-fn5fsgyc-1225970738320

They're quoting times DURING THE DAY while it's still light!

[BLiTZWiNG]

Haha I saw that Mike! I think maybe they mean 11am our time, if it's dark where you are (so like 12am UTC). Having our corporate HQ in the USA I tend to think that way though.

[Suzy]

Oh you need taking down boy! :mad2: :lol::lol:
Nah, good for you, :D very well done :thumbsup: Glad to hear you had an enjoyable night. :)

Mike, thanks for that link. :mad2:

[BLiTZWiNG]

"James of Kingaroy Posted at 12:13 PM Today
This meteor shower is not visible from our southern latitudes. Gemini is too far north for us and does not come up until 10pm or so which precedes Orion. So there is no hope in hell of seeing this, or any other meteor shower as they are all too far north. By the time they do start, we are left behind due to time zones. I'm an astronomer and just telling you a few home truths. Even the Leonids meteor shower in mid November is another that cops publicity but hey peoples, go figure. the world is not flat, so unless you live in Arizona, then forget about 'watching' a meteor shower.

Comment 8 of 13"

I ROFL'd at this.

[Suzy]

Trent, how did it go - nab anyway- did it end up clearing up for you?

[BLiTZWiNG]

It cleared again for a few minutes, I did end up seeing a few, then I got tired and mozzie bitten and went to bed. I had to be in early for a meeting this morning though, but I'm really hoping to stay up a bit later tonight!

I really need a banana lounge or something for this!

[Garyh]

Spent 4 hours last night watching and managed maybe 20 geminids. All fairly faint and short. Nothing to register on the DSLR. mind you caught a brilliant irridium flare maybe -6 mag.
A few years back we had a brilliant show with heaps of trails etc but not this time....Maybe a few tonight? if lucky..
cheers Gary

[erick]

After last night's heavy cloud, it is glorious blue sky today. Forecast for tonight - cloud! I think I'll going to bed. Next year.....................

[niko]

you going to bed for a whole year eric...? that seems a bit extreme, mind you it might be a whole year before victoria sees clear night skies at this rate!!

[Crusader]

Thanks. Most of them were pretty faint but there were quite a few stunningly bright ones which left trails for a few seconds.



LOL. Guess 'caught' is the wrong word to use. ;)

[Kevnool]

Sorry all slept in this morning got out of bed at 05.40 but at work at 0600 alls good.
Try again

Cheers Kev.

[Suzy]

Wow! :eyepop: They are flying through tonight!! 4 in 15mins so far.

[bloodhound31]

Wall to wall cloud here. I waited up on mount Stromlo for hours. Pretty typical of the last three times I have made an effort to go somewhere dark for it.

I give up. Going back to daytime photography. Pfft!

[Octane]

As per the last 5 or 6 meteor showers I've attempted:

http://i.imgur.com/kzfeF.png

H

[jjjnettie]

LOL @ H
I'm up for it now. Just waiting for the clouds to clear. :rofl:

[Heath]

Just saw 5 in about an hour. clear sky over Melbourne.

H

Very funny Octane!:lol:

[jjjnettie]

I nabbed 17 Geminids in the hour I was outside.
Two of them were beauties too. One blue and one orange. The blue one was the very first one I saw.
Had a little flurry of them too, all one after the other.
They all were to the far right of the twins, as that was where I was imaging. Who knows how many I missed on the other side?
Plenty of sporadics as well. The best one was at zenith, it came whizzing through leaving a quite speccy smoke trail as it broke up.
As Venus rose, she bought the clouds with her. But I'm really glad I made the effort to get out there.

[Heath]

Just went out and caught a few more. Sounds like you had a good session JJJ! Need to go and get some sleep now though. tired with sore neck is on the cards today.

[mozzie]

woohoo!!!! awoke this morning to clear skies..miracle!!!!! seen 10 or so geminids in the last hour happy happy happy.there is stars above the cloud...

[luigi]

Report from Argentina

I was observing from 10pm to 2:30am.
I saw dozens of very fast, short lasting small meteors.
I also saw a huge one and a big one.
The huge one crossed the sky above the moon near 11:30pm local time, it was yellow-greenish and lit up a good part of the sky, head and tail of the meteor were clearly noticeable. Fantastic!
The big one crossed above Crux going towards Centaurus, quite an unusual path it was half as big as the huge one but head and tail were also clearly noted.
Nice show!

[mozzie]

well spotted luis...sounds like you've had a good show on the other side of this wonderful world....

[jjjnettie]

:P yep, sore neck alright. I was going to spread out a tarp to lie on, for easy viewing, but I would have fallen asleep if I did.

[ZeroID]

Ah Shaddup all of you !! :cloudy: :shrug: Clouds, clouds, more clouds, some rain and more clouds. It will all be long over before I see blue sky again.

Think I'll go and sulk in the corner ..... :mad2:

Sounds like you all had some awesome sights though, excellent !!! :thumbsup:

[erick]

Set the alarm for 2am and had a peek out the window - clear skies - woah! So spent about 90 minutes in the back yard. When my eyes were open (:zzz2:) I saw 14 that seemed to emminate from the Geminid radiant, and 4 sporadics. A couple that were close to the radiant (and therefore close to headon) were nice and bright - leaving trails.

Also a handful of satellites, including what must have been an Iridium, given the few second extreme brightening.

A worthwhile observing session.

[Liz]

Woohoo ... well done all, it has definitely been a good year for the Geminids!!!
Alas, cloudy here last night, but the night before was good.:thumbsup:

Oh, bad luck volcano man : (

[Outbackmanyep]

Well i got up to do some comet obs and saw 2 Gems, one bright, one dim, and got 103P Hartley obs in, was working on B1 Cardinal and got fogged out.....and it stayed that way, drove up and down the road to see if the fog might have cleared and it was solid, so i went home and back to bed.

Got this this morning:
http://www.cloudbait.com/science/geminid2010.html

[jenchris]

Saw a few - couple of real biggies. One, visible through the clouds lit the clouds up like a searchlight.
One lit my house up like a lightning strike (except it was yellow).
But I don't think it was worth the sore back, neck and eyes.
Let me sort through the pics I was taking of Eta Carina and I'll tell you if the night was wasted!!

[msshhhh]

LOL. this is so true...
added to that clouds, clouds everywhere!

ughhhh!!

[BLiTZWiNG]

Saw nothing. Went outside, looked up and got a wet face :/

[jjjnettie]

Were you crying Trent?

[BLiTZWiNG]

I couldn't tell from all the rain hitting my face...

[Jeeps]

I was out for 3 hours last night/this morning and i only saw 35 or so, but i wasn't even looking for them most of the time ;)

cheers

[astroron]

I observed 18 Starting 21:49 Tuesday and the last at 00:45 this morning:)
Most with short bright trails and heading mainly in the East and South directions.
There where a few sporadic meteors thrown in for good measure:)
All observed between bouts of cloud and bright moonlight.
Called it a night at 00:15 as it was completely socked in:(

[jenchris]

Pictures were poor too - wasted evening - the sky seemed dark, but there's no detail or nebula
This is two minutes on Tarantula

[Suzy]

I nabbed 4 and my daughter got 3 within the first 15 mins, from around 10.30 (including a fireball). Big blankets of cloud came over around 11.30 and just ruined the highs we were experiencing :mad2:. I saw a couple of really short ones between gaps later on, but that was it, gave up. Oh well, I'm happy at what I saw I anyway, and my daughter said it's a night she'll never forget as she got to see the fireball. I picked the wrong time to go inside briefly :mad2: - I heard screams of excitement outside. :).

[jenchris]

I looked through my pics of two nights ago and found a little trail in one of them - didn't even know I'd got it!

[ZeroID]

NICE ONE Jen !! Now I can SEE why it's called Tarantula ! :thumbsup: Cool pic, way cool!

Meantime the clouds have given way at last, . we got rain instead, heaps of it. Just rain, that's all :shrug: :sadeyes: :shrug:.
Clouds are so low they are scraping the tops of the volcanoes .....

And I've left my wet weather jacket in the car, only brought the umbrella to work, and got about 1 km to walk back to the car ...( nearest unmetered parking ).
It's gonna be damp ! :windy:

[ZeroID]

They're gone and I never saw a sausage, and it's still cloudy and raining. And I'm not going to see the eclipse as we have tickets for Gorillaz on Tuesday night when it all happens.

[Liz]

Better luck next year Brent, for the sausages. :D :thumbsup:
Oh well, Gorillaz will be great, hopefully weather cloudy so you wont feel bad. ;)

[ZeroID]

Ta Liz, It's cloudy here anyway so Gorillaz :tasdevil: seems to be the better option, at least I'll see (and hear) something interesting.
(Yeah, I know it's not the most appropriate smiley but it's the closest thing to 'Gorillaz' ) :D
Cool Music !:rockband:
I think we've got rain till Xmas day at least :cloudy: