A bit of a background on the Geminid Meteor Shower:
One of the brightest recurring meteor showers in the sky happens from the 7th to the 17th December.
What will you see and when ?
They are known as the Geminids, and this year, due to the just barely past New Moon, they should be a great sight to see.
For best viewing conditions, be prepared to stay up late, though. The shower will generally start at 9:30 PM local time, and peak a few hours later, around 1 AM, and then fall off over the next few hours.
To spot the Geminids, look about half a degree from the stars Castor and Pollux in the sky, the shoulders of the Twins, and you'll see shooting stars moving rapidly across the sky as fragments of dust and a few pebbles burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. At its peak on the 14th of December, the Geminids will produce anywhere from 100 to 140 "shooting stars" per hour.
The best way to view a meteor shower is to find a comfortable reclining lawn chair or picnic mat and pillow. Lay back and point your feet in the direction of the radiant, look above and around it, as the meteors can begin quite some distance from the radient.
What are they ?
The Geminids were first spotted in 1861, and have recurred (with varying intensity) every year there after.
Originally considered an anomaly, because they weren't associated with a comet (as was demonstrated with the Perseids), the Gemenids were eventually linked to a near earth object called 3200 Phaethon.
3200 Phaethon was found to have a very comet-like eccentric orbit with a period of 1.41 years, when it was discovered in 1983. Current thinking is that Phaethon is the dessicated husk of a comet that's lost all of its volatiles from close passes to the Sun (it gets to half the distance Mercury does at perihelion.)
3200 Phaethon is only visible to someone with a large telescope due to it's faintness. At its closest approach to earth, at 11 million kilometers, will be visible in the constellation Virgo. At only 5 km in diameter, and with a medium albedo, 3200 Phaethon will look like a 14.5 magnitude star. 3200 Phaethon is in the category of objects considered potential impact hazards to the Earth. At 5 km in diameter, it's roughly half the diameter of the Chixchulub impactor that seems to have ended the age of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Phaethon's other remarkable feature is that it approaches the Sun closer than any other cataloged asteroid. The surface temperature at its closest (perihelion) could reach approximately 1025 Kelvin.
This explains why it was named after the Greek mythological figure Phaėton, son of the sun god Helios.
3200 Phaethon will approach relatively close to the Earth on December 14, 2093, passing within 0.0198 AU (Astronomical Units) or 2.97 million km.
Do not look directly at the Radiant (red circle) but look for them shooting along a bit further out (blue arrows). Some can appear even further out but still in a radiant line to the original source.
It is on nights of Meteor watching that you also notice how many sporadics there are (dark sky helps).
I have just been outside, and the same as last night, the Geminids are already spitting out some nice bright meteors. So Friday night should be fantastico!!!
weathers not looking too good for me for fri night/sat morn AM oh well, look forward to hearing some reports maybe
cheers for heads up Ken good to know!
great write up Ian, only would add, reading things like this are encouraging!
'..There is one other item of note. Models predicting the evolution of this shower by J. Jones and R.L. Hawkes suggest that by 2050 the Geminid ZHR may reach 190 per hour before declining in later years, making it the dominant meteor shower of our century. Might as well make friends with it this year!'
According to BOM weather forecast........Saturday for me is going to be mostly fine.....mostly in the way that its gonna be sunny then cloudy right on dark so i'll miss out! BUT....fingers crossed....looks like another trip to the local dirt "airport" for me!
Thanks for the easy Maps Ken
I have been out tonight looking up with a comfy chair and a few glasses of red wine with a mate.
We saw about 10/hr with one awesome Geminid fireball 1/2 way across the sky
We are having a club observing night tomorrow night to catch the predicted peak.
Lets hope the clear skies hold out
Viewing from Aldinga, south of Adelaide, 0200 to 0330 this morning (local time).
Saw 30 Geminids in total, and 3 sporadics. Beautiful skies, and beautiful warm conditions. Probably the most pleasant meteor observing session I've done.
Got some really nice shots with the DSLR, but no geminids unfortunately!
I was wandering if it was Thursday night into Friday morning or Friday night into Saturday morning. I didn't see many this Friday morning, I only saw about 10 in 1 hour.
I was wandering if it was Thursday night into Friday morning or Friday night into Saturday morning. I didn't see many this Friday morning, I only saw about 10 in 1 hour.
Someone will correct me if i'm wrong but I believe it will be tonight into Saturday morning.
I'll be out pending weather, hope it's a good one
Meteor shower to brighten night skies
Stargazers have the chance to spot a meteor shower in the skies tonight. If the clouds hold off, the annual Geminids meteor shower will be visible to the naked eye from about midnight until dawn.
Astronomer Nick Lomb from the Sydney Observatory says those wanting the best view should look to the northern sky for the meteor shower's peak at about 3:45am AEDT.
"Expect just bright streaks in the sky. They could be anywhere in the sky but they would all appear to originate from that, from a spot fairly low down in the northern sky.
"They'd look like fireworks or distant flares in the sky." http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...14/2119401.htm
oh well, look forward to hearing some reports maybe 
