Yes, I do love meteor showers... and tonight is a chance for a good one!
December 13-14 - GEMINID meteors - with the moon at a small crescent phase in 2012, the faithfully rich Geminid Meteors should present an excellent show in December ; for those who stay up late and into the early morning hour to view some of the brighter fireballs may reward your efforts. The Geminid shower is THE meteor shower for December, producing as many as 60 very white meteors in dark skies...only about 3 % of these meteors leave the characteristic "train" or trail, even when appearing as fireballs; this is a very unusual meteor shower in that it does NOT originate from debris of a spent comet, but rather from the MINOR PLANET "Icarus," a very peculiar asteroid that swings by the earth very closely during some passes. The radiant will rise nearly due EAST at dark and will be conveniently located (for northern hemisphere observers) about midnight; wait until about 11 p.m. this year to view this shower.
ON THE SAME NIGHT is a very minor and newer meteor shower, the "LEO-MINORIDS", from Leo Minor; it will rise due east also, but about 8 p.m. and be overhead around 2 a.m. This was discovered by casual stargazers in 1971!
We saw these delights in the sky! :)
ReplyDeleteMay the peace, joy and love of the season be yours all year long!