Brightest evening “stars” are Venus and Jupiter
Where do you look to see December’s famous Geminid meteor shower? In an open sky, because these meteors fly in many different directions and in front of numerous age-old constellations. However, if you trace the paths of the Geminid meteors backward, they all appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini. Tonight, the moon can guide you to the radiant point of the Geminid meteor shower, which is expected to peak on the nights of December 13 and 14. But you don’t need to know Gemini to see these meteors, for they streak all over the sky.
Castor nearly coinicides with the radiant point of the Geminid meteor shower. Best nights: December 12 and 13, 2011
The 2011 Geminid shower is now picking up steam. If these next few nights were moon-free, you could possibly see as many as 50 meteors per hour in the wee hours after midnight. Unfortunately, the drenching moonlight is sure to reduce the count this year, but meteor watchers will be on the lookout anyway. If the forecast holds, the Geminids will be falling most richly on the nights of Tuesday, December 13, and Wednesday, December 14.
As a general rule, the most Geminids fall the wee hours after midnight, from about 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. In other words, the mornings of December 14 and 15 will probably be best for watching this year’s 2011 Geminid shower. Hard to say how many meteors you’ll see in the moonlit glare, but we’ll be eager to hear your reports. If the forecast holds – which is a big IF – North America will probably see the most meteors on the night of December 13/14 and Asia on the night of December 14/15. But the only way to know for sure is to be outside watching.
About the radiant point. You don’t have to locate a meteor shower’s radiant point to watch the shower. Since meteors in showers appear in all parts of the sky, any open sky away from pesky artificial lights will do the trick. Just lie back comfortably and let your gaze wander to all parts of the sky.
Still, since many people ask, the Geminid shower radiates from the constellation Gemini, as shown on today’s chart. That’s how this shower got its name. The meteors come from a point near the star Castor in Gemini, one of the brightest stars in the sky. If you watch this shower – and trace the paths of the meteors backwards on the sky’s dome – you’ll find that the meteor paths seem to converge at a point in the sky near this star. It’s like standing in the middle of railroad tracks, gazing down the tracks and watching them converge in the distance. Meteor shower radiant points are kin to this illusion.
Castor is the fainter of the two Twin stars
To see Castor, look fairly low in the east-northeast sky around 9 p.m. Castor and the Geminid meteor shower radiant swing upward through the night and climb pretty much overhead by around 2 a.m. Here’s what is important about a meteor shower’s radiant point: the higher the radiant rises into in your sky, the more meteors you’re likely to see.
EarthSky’s meteor guide for 2011
That means you can expect to see the most Geminids around 2 a.m., when Castor will be highest in the sky, and the meteors will be raining down from overhead.
The moderately fast Geminid meteors tend to be bright. The exact number you can see varies with a number of factors, but 40 to 90 per hour at peak is a reasonable estimate in years when the moon is out of the way. Despite the moonlight intruding on this year’s production, some Geminids should be bright enough to offer a little extra holiday lighting on these cold December nights. Since the peak of a meteor shower isn’t all that easy to predict with absolute precision, meteor watching enthusiasts will be watching the Geminids for the next several nights.
Photo credit: Navicore
By the way, meteors in annual showers – like the Geminids – stem from debris left behind by comets as they orbit the sun. A meteor shower’s radiant point represents the direction in the sky at which Earth’s orbit intersects the orbit of that (usually) long-lost comet.
The parent object of the Geminids is very special. It looks more like an asteroid than a comet, and it has an asteroid name: 3200 Phaethon. Perhaps the link between comets and asteroids is closer than we think!
[...] For more information regarding how to view this year’s Geminid shower, visit http://earthsky.org/tonight/radiant-point-for-geminid-meteor-shower 10 Tips for viewing the shower: [...]
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Just saw one over the city of Toronto. It was very low in the sky and very bright.
Ian, right now it is a little early to say for sure. The Geminids tend to have a fairly sharp peak, and we are still about two days out. If you could trace it back to the vicinity of the radiant (near Castor and Pollux, below the horizon until about 8-8:30 p.m. local time) then it more than likely was. If it was going in some other direction, then it likely was a sporadic.
I think i saw one too! At around 6pm in the city of Etobicoke (west of Toronto) i saw a bright fire ball falling from the sky, but it was very low, so low I thought it was going to hit a building but then it dissipated. My condo faces North east. I have never seen anything like it!
I also saw one over Toronto while looking north east. It was heading north and very bright! it lasted for about 3 seconds and then turned green and broke up into pieces.
I saw this one too – I was at Queen and York at 6:04 pm and looking north east. it came from behind a building and disappeared behind another but had two seconds of the most fantastic bright meteor. I also wonder if it crashed somewhere.
Oswego, NY area travelling from the south to the north headed out over Lake Ontario just after 6 pm very bright with tail fire!!
South to north likely not a Geminid, but given your location, I wonder if it could have been the same Ian saw from Toronto.
Saw one in Ottawa – roughly 6:05 PM. Bright green with tail, about 5-6 seconds then light went out. Travelling S->N as I was driving west
Sounds like things are picking up back east. Just now getting dark in Denver.
I know nothing about celestial activity, but was wondering what the heck I just saw. It was a super bright white streak, seemed to be very low, when compared to a typical shooting star. Definitely wasn’t a plane, chopper or firework. Seemed to be going from south to north. I live in western New York state if that helps. I’m baffled by it.
I saw it too. I live in Orchard Park NY and saw it around 6:00 It came straight down very bright. I would have thought it was a small plane going down but it was going straight down. I am glad I am not crazy.
No, you’re not crazy. That’s exactly when I saw it too! Wasn’t looking for it, just happened to look up, and there it was.
Yeah I saw it too. Bout 6 ish tonight. I was headed from Binghamton ny to olean on rt86 I was about in the Howard ny area and saw it go streaking across the shy south to north. Very bright and spectacular.
On Dec.12,2011 at approximately 6:15 pm, I looked out my west window and saw a meteor come down. Took me by surprise as I was not expecting to see it. I live in Belleville, Ont. Canada
I think there is some discrepancy on the exact time, but it sounds like a number of you in the Ontario/New York area saw a large meteor. It *could* conceiably have been a bit of space debris, but it does not seem to me that it was a Geminid. What you saw possibly was a “bolide” or “fireball,” which is a particularly bright and spectacular meteor, usually not associated with any shower.
It was at exactly 6:04pm. I looked at my clock right after to see if id be able to pick it up on traffic cameras later on. I was drive east bound on the QEW on top of the erin mills bridge. I believe it was some space debris due to the fact that it was a very white light probably something made of aluminium. It broke up into 3 large pieces and disappeared approx 2km’s from the ground over Etobicoke. Although it could have been much father east resulting in a much high altitude.
I walked outside at 6pm tonight and in front of me in the sky was a massive green ball with tailfire. It lasted a long time. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!
I swear this fireball was only 250 feet away from my condo and when it diccpated it was only maybe 50 feet above a high rise office building. Maybe I have an issue with depth perception but I am almost certain.
I am sure it was fantastic, and apparently a lot of folks saw it, but I assure you that it was much farther away than that. Probably on the order of at least a few dozen miles, and possibly several hundred miles away.
My wife and I were just coming outside when we looked up and saw this huge fire ball with tail streaking across the sky heading from south to north It was not all that far from the ground compared to a shootting star. This was around 6pm. I live Napanee Ontario Canada
Really wish I could have seen it, too!
At 6:05 pm (I checked on my phone for the time) I saw a bright object with a tail traveling S to N, northeast of Hamilton, Ontario. It appeared lower, larger and slower than any shooting star that I have seen in the past. Awesome.
I hope some security camera caught it, too!
I’m from Ancaster, Ontario and I saw it too. It was definately a slightly green colour…why would that be? It seemed to last forever and was quite low to the ground when it finally disipated. It was magnificent!!! I was hoping it was a really big shooting star and that meant the more chances of my wish coming true! :)
Thea,
The green color is not uncommon — or at least I mean that it is not uncommon when you see a meteor as spectacular as this one apparently was. The colors come from the materials the meteoroid is composed of, as well as the gases in Earth’s atmosphere. As the meteoroid zips through the atmosphere at many thousands of miles per hour, it literally compresses and heats the air in front and around it. Portions of the meteoroid melt off and vaporize, and the color is characeristic of whatever the element was. Similarly, gases in the atmosphere heat up along the trail and glow with characteristic colors. With a meteor it could be a certain metal (like trace amounts of magnesium) that give it the green color, and/or the glow of ionized (highly heated) atmospheric gases. I’m not sure about the atmospheric gases, since they can cause different colors, depending on the temperatures, but I know that some of the green colors in auroras are due to oxygen, so that may be the case here, too.
Saw it from my kitchen window. It was in the eastern sky around 6 pm. Pretty low, green with a tail. I live in Etobicoke, Ontario.
I was walking home at Yonge and Lawrence in Toronto and saw this huge bright light that looked like a fireball. It was the coolest thing I ever seen. Like it was right out of a movie. It was around 6pm also and heading north east. I was actually waiting for a loud landing noise since it seemed so close but it vanished.
Since everyone’s commenting on this meteor tonight, I went for a walk at 7pm pacific (Bay Area, CA) and saw a bright green fireball streaking rather slowly across the western sky, north to south. It had a red tail and appeared to be fizzling out as it fell from my view (behind a house). About 20 minutes later, saw a must smaller one–red sparks across the sky and fast (also north to south, but I was facing east now). I assume these were Geminids?
Jen, no, probably not Geminids. Definitely not the first one. Wrong direction and wrong part of the sky. You may have seen another sporadic fireball. If it was going north to south, I doubt the second one, too, although it is possible depending on the exact direction you were looking.Man, nice meteors are just all over tonight!
Are we going to see the meteor showers in Papua New Guinea. A country north of cape york in Australia.
Simita,
Yes. From Papua New Guinea, it’ll probably be best between midnight and dawn on December 15.
Bruce
I live in Toronto, Canada, in southern Ontario, and saw the meteor around 6 pm on Monday night. It was low in the sky and very bright. It must have been immense as downtown Toronto creates a vast amount of light pollution, and yet there was this huge blazing star so clearly visible. I assumed it was a Geminid and am fascinated to learn that so many other people saw it as well, and that it was likely not a Geminid but something else entirely.
I had just left work last night after 6:00 p.m. and was walking east along St. Clair Ave. East (east of Yonge) when I saw this large, fiery meteor blast across the east/north-east sky, heading south to north. It was amazing and I looked around to see if anyone else had their mouth agape, but nothing! At first I thought perhaps it had been a plane on fire or my imagination perhaps, but as I kept walking the reality set in and I thanked my “lucky stars” for letting me see this rare beauty. Thank you!
As I was driving to work at 4am on 12/12/2011, I saw a huge fire ball appear in the sky. It looked super close and I could see the red tail of fire streaking behind it. It was so close I could see the detail. I’ve seen meteors way up in the sky that looked like a white streak, but never had one so close that I could the the red fire. It was amazing. At least I think it was a meteor. I don’t think anything else could move that fast and have a huge tail of fire behind it. It looked like it was like only 1,000 feet in the air. It was flying from West to east across the sky, then it took a sharp dip down and then disappeared.
Oh, I forgot to say that it was over Kent, WA
every1 from the US who saw that fireball over W NY (or any others) feel free to check out amsmeteors.org where u can both search for fireballs others have spotted or report one that u have seen. It seems like the 1 every1 saw was in such a highly populated area, when it was dark but early enough for tons of people to b out, that it could get lots of reports!
and of course Canadians can check it out as well though it doesn’t really provide u with a legitimate way 2 log a fireball. U could still search and see what other people in adjacent parts of the States have seen.
Bruce hope u don’t mind me plugging another website!
Wow, I am really jealous I didn’t see any of this, neither the eastern event or the stuff on the West Coast. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!
Saw several very bright ones and a few light ones, looking the 2nd floor window almost straight up towards NNE, luckily the roof blocks out the moon !!! It’s 1215am PST, this is wonderful, going back for more…
Fremont, California
Pieces of a meteorite apparently did land East of Toronto. Since so many of you appear to have seen a fireball and flash, this is the meteorite you probably witnessed.
You can check the story here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/14/science-meteor-meteorite-toronto.html
Thanks Dominik, for this information. However, it does not say that anything landed, or that anything has been found, just that it is possible.
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I was sleeping & woke up, within 2 seconds I spotted a large yellow object falling to earth quickly about 20 miles north of me.
Planes flying by had much smaller blinking lights and were going much slower. 20 minutes later, another large yellow object fell.
I never heard any concussion sound. I haven’t looked in the news for it yet.
If a planes’ flashing light were the size of a pencil point in the sky, this fireball was the size of the eraser on the other end.
- Ontario County, NY
Eric, a large fireball was seen in your area at about 6 p.m. on the 12th. I cannot tell from your entry whether this might have been the same you saw or not. It is also not possible to say anything definitive about the actual size of the object without knowing the distance. Also, whether any particles from the Dec. 12 event reached the Earth is still unknown at this time. At least none have been reported to my knowledge.
It is possible that your observations could have been the result of space debris falling to Earth, or could have been large meteors. Large meteors are fairly infrequent, but observers can see 5-7 ordinary meteors per hour any night, from a very dark location and especially after midnight. Tons of meteoritic material falls every day, but only a lucky few such as yourself get to observe it.