The Geminid meteor shower

[Brad Reddekopp]

Dec. 12 , 2006: The best meteor shower of the year peaks this week on Dec. 14th.

"It's the Geminid meteor shower," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, Alabama. "Start watching on Wednesday evening, Dec. 13th, around 9 p.m.," he advises. "The display will start small but grow in intensity as the night wears on. By Thursday morning, Dec. 14th, people in dark, rural areas could see one or two meteors every minute."

From http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006 ... ?list33567

[PlatypusOfCarnage]

I intend to be outside Thursday night. I wish it was peaking tomorrow night though, because then I'd be home in the country, where the night sky is dark. Hopefully I can see some from the city, still.

[MustangGT]

This is one of the (very very few) things that suck about LA. Nighttime light pollution makes it almost impossible to see anything in the sky except for the Moon, Venus, Mars, and the North Star.

Sheeeeeeit.

[PlatypusOfCarnage]

Yeh. It's a bit better here, in winter we can see a handful of stars, but back home it's a blanket of them.

[MustangGT]

I remember one vacation my family took to lake Shasta. We rented a hosue boat. At nighttime, there were no lights anywhere within eyeshot. The sky was clear, and I could see the literal ribbons of stars in the milky way. It was sooooo amazing. I never saw a starry night so clearly before or since.

Did you know that "Milky Way" is so named because in ancient times the greeks thought that the clouds of stars were milk lactated from the breast of some (presumably hot) goddess?

I would like to have sex with her and grab her star-tits

[MustangGT]

Well, theres multiple tracks sometimes, but they keep routing back to the "main line."

What can I say? I like to indulge in many of lifes pleasures, and sex is the best of those.

[Brad Reddekopp]

This is one of the (very very few) things that suck about LA. Nighttime light pollution makes it almost impossible to see anything in the sky except for the Moon, Venus, Mars, and the North Star.

Sheeeeeeit.

Just out of curiosity, how difficult would it be and how long would it take for you to get out in the desert or somesuch place away from city lights?

Looks like I can expect mostly cloudy skies during this shower.

[Brad Reddekopp]

Next, the 2007 Geminids.

Dec. 03, 2007: Mark your calendar: The best meteor shower of 2007 peaks on Friday, December 14th.

see caption"It's the Geminid meteor shower," says NASA astronomer Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center. "Start watching on Thursday evening, Dec. 13th, around 10 pm local time," he advises. "At first you might not see very many meteors—but be patient. The show really heats up after midnight and by dawn on Friday, Dec. 14th, there could be dozens of bright meteors per hour streaking across the sky."

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007 ... list975392

If you're gonna plan an out-of-the-city meteor watching party, this is the one to plan for.

[Brad Reddekopp]

An update for this year's shower:

Space Weather News for Dec. 12, 2007
http://spaceweather.com

Earth has entered a stream of dusty debris from asteroid 3200 Phaethon and, as a result, the annual Geminid meteor shower is underway. Sky watchers around the world are reporting a slow drizzle of late-night meteors at least as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper. The best is yet to come: Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Friday, Dec. 14th. No matter where you live, watch the sky between local midnight and dawn; people outdoors before sunrise on Friday could see dozens to hundreds of shooting stars. Depending on the details of Earth's encounter with Phaethon's debris stream, the shower could continue into the weekend as well.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates and full coverage including sky maps, photos and eye-witness reports.

[MustangGT]

Goddamn LA has so much light pollution Ill be lucky to see 1 shooting star tomorrow night.

[Brad Reddekopp]

So, go out of town for a few hours.

Going out of town tomorrow wouldn't do me any good, though. I'd probably have to travel several hundred kilometres to get out from under the cloud cover.

[Brad Reddekopp]

The 2008 Geminid shower is this weekend, peaking on the 13th and 14th. Unfortunately, the 12th is a full moon, so you won't see the usual 100 meteors per hour. More like 20 per hour. Still, that's more than a normal night.

It's not only a full moon, but the biggest (and, I suppose, brightest) full moon of the year, as the moon will be at or near perigee.

[Brad Reddekopp]

I saw a few. How 'bout you?

[Silent Rain]

I saw two last night!

Silent Rain

[Brad Reddekopp]

I've got clear skies this weekend but it's about -20 C so it's a bit tough to get motivated to stand around and look at the sky at night.