My pregnant partner and i just shared our first meteor shower together :-D She spotted the first, then the next two we both shouted out as they zoomed across the sky. Only got a half hour in before the clouds spoiled it, but it does definitely make you feel all warm and fussy inside sharing these moments :-)
Chris
Forgot to add, thanks for the thread Suzy! Would've missed it otherwise
Woohooooo! Had a great night with the Geminid's meteor shower!
Between 10pm-2am nabbed 32, plus 2 rogue meteors, plus 5 of the other meteor shower to the east (would have been more I'm sure if I kept looking as the Geminids kept us pretty busy), so total count with 3 of them is: 39 for the night. This has been the best meteor shower I've seen so far, wow! Saw two incredibly bright ones too with long tails that I'll never forget (you could see the head and the tail!). The heads on those was as bright as Sirius if I'm not mistaken. And a third one (tho not as bright) even left a smoke trail and then fizzled out *eyepop*. When we started to pack up at 2am, the clouds came in so how's that for perfect timing! LOL. The last hour between 1 and 2 was dismal, only giving 2 with a wait of 40 mins before the next. But between 12.30 & 1am, nabbed 10 alone, so that must've have been the peak time for me. It's now 2.30am, time for some sleep! zzzzzz...
It's been a spectacular display here at a dark sky site, just west of Warwick. Cloud free, easily into the hundreds of meteors. Someone else here counted over 30 meteors in the southern half of the sky over about 30 mins... and this was just in the lead up to the peak. During the peak, I counted up to 5 meteors at a time in rapid succession. Mostly green ones, with the occasional red streaking fireballs. What a show!
Woohooooo! Had a great night with the Geminid's meteor shower!
Between 10pm-2am nabbed 32, plus 2 rogue meteors, plus 5 of the other meteor shower to the east (would have been more I'm sure if I kept looking as the Geminids kept us pretty busy), so total count with 3 of them is: 39 for the night. This has been the best meteor shower I've seen so far, wow! Saw two incredibly bright ones too with long tails that I'll never forget (you could see the head and the tail!). The heads on those was as bright as Sirius if I'm not mistaken. And a third one (tho not as bright) even left a smoke trail and then fizzled out *eyepop*. When we started to pack up at 2am, the clouds came in so how's that for perfect timing! LOL. The last hour between 1 and 2 was dismal, only giving 2 with a wait of 40 mins before the next. But between 12.30 & 1am, nabbed 10 alone, so that must've have been the peak time for me. It's now 2.30am, time for some sleep! zzzzzz...
So glad to hear you got a good display Suzy !
I pretty much picked up where you left off at 2am
Our skies are clear as a bell up here in Gove NT ATM, with the only sign of weather being some very distant over the northern horizon lightning (nice backdrop !)
I began my count of geminids as soon as I arrived at our northern beach viewing site (nothing but ocean for 100 nautical miles north
It only took a few minutes to start seeing some geminids. Obvious by their slower and generally yellowish colour. This contrasted starkly with what was obviously another shower above the Geminids, with these meteors seemingly twice as fast and bright white. A little investigation later this morning confirmed my suspision that they were Alpha Hydrids.
There were of course sporadic’s throughout the display, with many of these leaving breif "trains" (smoke trails)
I was joined by two other members of Gove Astronomers Peter & Nicole as the morning progressed. There seemed to be a peak of activity around 4am, with the observations and count continuing until first light started to win out at 5am. The final count was 250+ METEOR'S 25 of which were sporadic’s (or unidentified showers) 25 were clearly Alpha Hydrids, leaving an amazing 200 Geminids in a little less than 3 hours.
This is easily the best show I have seen since the Leonids of 2001.
I had a look just before midnight was watching star trek, didn't spot any from here in Charlestown probably too early will try a bit later tonight if I can wake up
Grandson David, 10yrs, and I were out for 2 hrs, 10-12:00. David has been able to name all the Planets in order since he was 8.
The meteor started slowly. No sighting until 10:30. We became disgruntled. Then the first zoomed on. Followed by more. 31 in total in an hour and a half.
David was so excited he ran in to get Ma. Ma was never interested, but when she saw the numbers coming up she bedded down on the rug and assisted in the count.
A few meteors displayed trains and I half expected to hear crackling.
David is hooked.
Another impressive Geminids display at our Gove Astronomers Xmas Party and observing night. The Geminids stared early rising up from the horizon before the radiant had risen and continued to impress until 11pm. Did not do a count last night but there were easily 50 plus. Some covered 1/2 the sky and left smoking trains behind. Saw at least a dozen bright "Piscids" from the new comet Wirtanen Shower. An awesome night all in all & great for some of the new to astronomy folk who joined us !
Wonderful stuff Marty ... wonderful when others are wowed by the experience too.
Sounds great too Ian with lots seen, including quite a number from the 'piscid' shower.
It has been a wonderful shower over quite a few days, allowing many to observe and enjoy. I saw quite a few in the wee hours of Thursday and Friday mornings .... too tired today
Clouds to the North, clouds to the East ................
The only decent one I saw was not even a Geminid ........ about 10.30pm Thursday night a fireball leaving a long smoking tail coming from south fizzled out directly above Jindabyne ...........
maybe next year ............... raining in Jindabyne since I installed the new counterweights on the Gaunt mount.
I sat down the beach for 3 hours and saw at least 20 but for some reason i only got 2, i had the d3s with the fisheye set at f2.8 and 1000 iso with s shutter release at 30 seconds and continually shot for 3 hours and i know i got the 20 meteors in the shots but after looking at everyone on the computer only 2 were visible.
. The final count was 250+ METEOR'S 25 of which were sporadic’s (or unidentified showers) 25 were clearly Alpha Hydrids, leaving an amazing 200 Geminids in a little less than 3 hours.
This is easily the best show I have seen since the Leonids of 2001.
And there I was being excited at getting 39!
Nice report there Ian.
Thank you to all those who gave their reports.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris85
My pregnant partner and i just shared our first meteor shower together :-D She spotted the first, then the next two we both shouted out as they zoomed across the sky. Only got a half hour in before the clouds spoiled it, but it does definitely make you feel all warm and fussy inside sharing these moments :-)
Chris
Forgot to add, thanks for the thread Suzy! Would've missed it otherwise
That's a lovely story, Chris, and something you will always cherish and remember now.
Marty, seems like you have a budding astronomer grandson! As a fellow Brisbane-ite, it was good to hear your tally of getting so many! You caught nearly the same amount as me in half the time. I'm guessing it's because I don't have a low horizon to the north- i.e. I have a big garage shed blocking my view grrrr.
My pregnant partner and i just shared our first meteor shower together :-D She spotted the first, then the next two we both shouted out as they zoomed across the sky. Only got a half hour in before the clouds spoiled it, but it does definitely make you feel all warm and fussy inside sharing these moments :-)
Chris
Forgot to add, thanks for the thread Suzy! Would've missed it otherwise
Assume you meant warm and fuzzy
She'll probably get warmer and fussier as the pregnancy progresses. My wife did!!!
My Geminid count was ONE. Having stayed up really late the previous two nights observing Jupiter and trying out my new eyepieces. I was just too tired to do it again. Saw one bright one from my apartment balcony when the radiant was still too low for me to see. But I've seen this shower many times from the UK so I don't mind
25 of which were sporadic’s (or unidentified showers) 25 were clearly Alpha Hydrids, leaving an amazing 200 Geminids in a little less than 3 hours.
