Geminid meteors peak during night of December 13
December 13, 2009 - ES Tonight
The Geminids rank as one of the best meteor showers for the year in both hemispheres. And this year a little sliver of a waning crescent moon won’t rise until dawn tomorrow. That guarantees a dark night tonight for watching the 2009 Geminid meteor shower. It doesn’t get much better than this for meteor watching.
First of all, find an open view of the sky away from pesky artificial lights. Enjoy the comfort of a reclining lawn chair, the warmth of a sleeping bag, and watch the show. Give your eyes at least 20 minutes times to adapt to the dark. Often, meteors come in spurts and are interspersed by lulls. So give yourself at least an hour to watch these meteors.
This meteor shower gets its name from the constellation Gemini the Twins. If you trace the paths of all the Geminid meteors backward, they appear to radiate from the same point in front of Gemini. This point is called the meteor shower radiant, and is located near the star Castor. But you don’t have to find the meteor shower radiant to see the Geminid meteors, for these meteors shoot all over the sky.
Most meteor showers take place when our planet Earth crosses the orbital path of a comet. The comet debris plunges into Earth’s upper atmosphere and the vaporizing particles fill the night with meteors. But the Geminid meteor shower appears to be an oddity. The shower’s parent body looks more like an asteroid rather than a comet.
That’s tonight – the Geminid meteor shower. This shower often produces about 50 meteors per hour, or about one a minute.
Let’s hope for clear skies!
Isnt it Castor? not caster.
Hi Jim, thank you! We corrected it …
Last night here in the North of Scotland, there was an excellent show of the meteor shower, it was visible from from around 22:15, I stopped looking about 23:30 it was freezing,I will try again tonight.
Love, Mom
Which direction should I look ?
Deany, the meteors will appear in all parts of the sky.
Best,
Deborah
i live in devon , me and my children wraped up in duvets laid down on a trampoline in our back garden from 20.00 till 21.00 . we had a awsome hour
Living in Cork watching the show tonight… Started at about 10pm and stayed watching till 11.00… It was unreal… Saw loads and loads of meteors….. At one point saw 3 objects in a line shoot right across the whole sky… It was unreal…. Has anyone seen this ???
Living in Cork watching the show tonight… Started at about 10pm and stayed watching till 11.00… It was unreal… Saw loads and loads of meteors….. At one point saw 3 objects in a line shoot right across the whole sky… It was unreal…. Has anyone seen this ???
It sounds like Darren you saw satellites going across the sky, it’s common to see them and they would match your description especially if you were using binoculars.
Living in Donegal…sky was so clear and have been popping outside to watch all evening but typical Donegal the clouds have just rolled in and we couldn’t see anymore
Here in Webster, Ky hope it is visible from where we are plan to look for it.
Why do you rarely, if ever, mention from WHERE such showers will be visible?! Not everyone reading your site lives in the US……
Chris, many meteor showers are visible worldwide, and that’s the case with the Geminids. If you’re across the International Dateline, the night of the 14th might be as good as the night of the 13th …
Best,
Deborah
kailua, hawaii
we also saw a bunch last night around 12 am our time
North of Denver, Colorado. Just saw the Geminid for the first time. WOW! Took my son and he saw his very first \’shooting stars\’.
Just came in from the hot-tub in Homer, Alaska on a clear night. GREAT show here in hour around 8:30 pm Alaska time! Called all my best friends and told them to get outside!
Watching in North Texas. Wish my sky was darker, but I’ve seen nineteen since midnight. The first four came one after another in about ten seconds or so.
1 AM, Southeast Alaska. Saw on Facebook that my neighbor had seen meteors, so I went outside my floathouse, saw 2 right away and then 5 more in 2 minutes, came back in and put a shirt on, went back out and laid down and saw none for 5 minutes, then counted 21 in the next 10 minutes! Wow! Awesome! Also heard wolves howling, a sea otter chomping clams, a blue heron squawking, ducks flapping wings, and the weird moaning noise that comes from out in front of Point Baker. (-:
11:10 PM – 10 min west of Fort Worth, TX had a beautiful clear sky, few city lights, and saw at least 10 in the span of about 20 minutes. From our perspective they were very close to the Orion constellation moving generally east to west.
I saw a fireball (small rocky fragment)originating from the asteroid 3200 Phaeton at 3am 14 Dec 2009. I have reported it to the Norman Lockyear Observatory at Sidmouth. I live near the cliff edge at Budleigh Salterton in East Devon and my window faces in a easterly direction towards Otter Head with the sea on my right. It was quite astounding and fell/shot cleanly from the sky and appeared to come from a south easterly direction. I saw what looked like a glowing white orb or star fall from the sky at an angle of around 55 degrees very close to the house. It appeared to fall to the ground behind trees, probably into the sea. It glowed an extremely bright white as it soared through the sky and was quite amazing to see. It was definitely not an aircraft of any kind. I have seen a shooting star before but only very high up in the sky and not right in front of me.
I saw a few meteors last night. Pretty cool
I saw a fireball shoot across the south west sky
in Cambridge Maryland on 12/14/2009, at 6:20 am
It was as making crackling sounds before the fireball
looked like it exploded. It was the brightest and biggest
meteor I have ever seen.