Geminids Meteor Shower - Viewing & Origin

[geoff_melb]

Hi all,

Just an update re Geminids meteor shower.

Myself and a couple of EAMN observers were up at
Tocumwal NSW for a few days around the Geminids maximum. We had lots of
fantastic observing with a 10" F5 newt on a computer controlled mount
under extremely dark skies , at times approaching a naked eye LM of +7.0

The night before the shower maximum we were doing mostly deep-sky work,
but during observing saw a number of fine and bright meteors, some from
the Geminid shower, and others from Puppid-Velid complex.
The highlight was a geminid that left a train in the sky for about
5minutes. We quickly pointed the 10" on the train and saw the amazing
sight of the train dissipating and wafting in the upper atmosphere,
changing shape rather rapidly much like a puff of smoke from a cigarette.

Come the night of the Geminid maximum; after a week of fantastic clear
nights, we were partly clouded out, much due to what appeared to be
upper atmpsheric smoke from the fires on Kangaroo Island.This also
explained the very red sun at sunset and the dark blood red moon early
in the evening. We were left with much reduced transparency, and a LM
of around +5.2 to +5.5

Despite the poor conditions we still managed 1.75 hours each for a total
of 5.25 hours of observing on the morning of the 15/12(aedt), which was
around the predicted shower maximum of 02:45 AEDT.
The highlight, a -3mag geminid over zenith. Rates were ok, we each saw
27 to 28 geminids over a 2 hour period. Given the conditions and
position of the radiant we factored something close to a ZHR of 115
meteors.
Our observations are in line with reported obs from all around the world
which show that there were 2 peaks, the first occurring ealier than
predicted, at approx 22:00-23:59UT on 13/12, with a ZHR of around 120
meteors. The second peak occurred at the predicted time of around
14:00-18:00UT on 14/12, with a ZHR of approx 135-155 meteors.

Whilst observing deep sky on the morning of the 17/12 AEDT, we had
another look but geminids were far and few between, with only a couple
seen during the night.

We now wait for the next big shower, the eta Aquarids in May 2008 which
is usually a very reliable shower, and produce much faster meteors than
the Geminids. The etas are known for producing bright meteors with
longer paths, and with the favourable moon conditions (new moon on the
night of the maximum) and a predicted ZHR of around 70 meteors, it could
be a good show.

Geoff C

[fringe_dweller]

really enjoyed everybody's reports!! wow sounds like a missed a good one lol!
it's great to see meteor shower watching regaining some profile in oz, and growing in numbers on IIS! it helps when its now so well co-ordinated thru the net as demonstrated here,, you know a number of the alternative precise to the minute predictions of the peak(s) for certain meteor showers don't get released till the very last minute sometimes and then only via the net, so no good using books/mags at times eh.
i hope to be able to have weather and time on my side for the ETA's, hopefully