Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Geminid meteor shower best tonight to morning

Tonight and tomorrow (THursday morning) is the Gemind meteori shower and the best chance to see it. I have been watching meteor showers since I was a little kid and tonight is one of the best ones to watch.

The meteors will stream out in all directions from the top of the constellation Gemini which is the North of Orion further South.

You may be able to see starting 9pm Earthgrazers. At that time the constellation and the radiant (location in the sky where the meteors seem to stream out of) is low. Sometime meteors streak through the outer parts of the atmosphere and skip through. From the ground they are usually bright, colorful and very long . I saw one a could years ago and it came up from East and looked like an orange sparking firecraker. It was great.

The meteors are usually bright, colorful and sometimes leave dusty trails called "trains."

It is one of the best meteor showers but because it usually in cold weather people don't go out to look as much as in August when the Perseids take place. But the Orionids in October (which I did not try to watch) was unexpectedly good and observers saw many more meteors then average.The Leonids in November that I watched two nights, were not impressive in numbers but I saw one real imressive yellow fireball that sticks in my mind. Others eventhough many were faint , some had trains.

What is interesting is this strong meteor shower was not seen until 1862 which is very unusual. Astronomers searching for a related comet found an object which was called 3200 Phaethon. It's characteristcs appear more like an asteroid as there is no tail like a comet. This object gets close to the Sun so maybe that produced some of the larger particles which produce these many bright meteors as they burn up. Another theory is that this object collided with some asteroid and is trailing many rocky bigger particles

While information on the internet , CNN etc says you might see 1 or 2 per minute , that is during the earlier morning hours and you need to be in a dark sky place. You can't see the fainter ones in the light polluted skies of the cities and bigger towns. Plus you need unobstructed view of the constellation Gemini as it rises from the East after 9 pm. Many meteors, if you there are trees where live, may go behind the trees . Also this does not include the fainter meteors that you can't see if you are just looking near your house and not in a dark sky location.

The bright ones are the ones to remember but sometimes even the fainter ones will leave those trains that will linger and sometime twist in the upper atmospheric winds.

Good luck and let me know if you see any.
The weather will be clear and relatively warm tonight and tomorrow morning (here in Kansas) so try it.

More information at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/12dec_geminids.htm

http://www.earthsky.org/article/50807/look-ahead-to-geminid-meteors-on-december-13


Dr.Eric Flescher

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