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Posted by: Tman Dec 13 2009, 09:09 AM

Tonight one of the best meteor shower of 2009 is coming (probably). http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/08dec_geminids.htm
There's an interesting fact about this shower. It has been intensifying in recent decades and the trend could continue because of Earth's and the stream orbit has come closer and closer together.

As I was awake this morning around 5 o'clock the sky was partly cloudly after rain yesterday and I saw my first Geminids in my life and still some of the much faster Leonids. Two of the Geminids have shown up as nice bolides and greenish.

Keep fingers crossed that the weather will be cooperative.

Posted by: Stu Dec 13 2009, 09:29 AM

Very frustrating here last night. Sky was clear when I finished work at 9.30, but by the time I was free to go outside and start observing at 11.00 it had mostly clouded over. So I stayed up and watched DEFYING GRAVITY on Beeb2, hoping the clouds would have gone by the time it finished at 00.25, but nope, still cloudy... Was up at 6 this morning, and there were some gaps in the cloud but nothing happening in them. Oh well, better luck tonight I hope, the forecast is better at least.

Posted by: nprev Dec 13 2009, 09:34 AM

They're infrequent & slow, Stu. Hard to catch...but well worth the wait! Some of the brightest meteors I've seen were Geminids.

So, of course, I'm in a major metropolitan area & it's raining like hell. Good luck!

Posted by: Tman Dec 13 2009, 09:55 AM

Too bad about the weather here (and the very cold wind). Last night the rate(s) was already pretty high http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=13&month=12&year=2009

Slower is good, isn't it You get more time to move your head in the right direction, especially when a bolide show up.

Posted by: nprev Dec 13 2009, 10:31 AM

Indeed, slower is better! I love the Perseids, but the damn things are pretty fast, esp. towards dawn; peripheral vision is almost all you have. Geminids are slow & showy; you do have time to really see the meteor.

Posted by: Stu Dec 13 2009, 10:40 AM

Been watching the Geminids for 30 years or so now (gulp!) so I can agree that they're slow. Saw a couple of really good showers before - one memorable one with a LOT of fireballs, seen from the side of a road in temps of -7 C, a real hand-clapping-foot-stomper!

I actually like the January "Quadrantids", they've always seemed very bright and leave long trails. But really hoping for a clear sky tonight, even tho I'll be getting back from work at 10, and observing for as long as I can before I have to sneak some sleep before getting up for work again at 6am Monday...

Posted by: nprev Dec 13 2009, 10:53 AM

I would have been watching them longer then you, but it got REALLY damn cold in Montana when I was young, to say nothing of snowy...

Posted by: Stu Dec 14 2009, 06:43 AM

So.... quite a clear sky through the afternoon yesterday, then clouds rolled in right as it started to get dark... clear sky again at 9pm, while I was still at work, of course, and by the time I had got back home, got changed, grabbed my binocs and trudged over to the park to start Geminid watching it was cloudy again... couple of small gaps, but nothing seen, so retreated inside to wait for an hour and try again... back outside, clearish, saw 10, maybe 11, non-remarkable Geminids in half an hour, then back came the clouds... retreated to bed at 01.00, but alarm set for on the hour... 02 - cloud... 03 - cloud... 04 - cloud... 05 - cloud... 06 - cloud, and time to go to work...

Might as well live on Titan or Venus.

British weather, I hate you with a fist-clenching, knuckle-whitening, Kirk screaming "Khaaaaaaaaan!!!" passion.

Posted by: Tesheiner Dec 14 2009, 06:55 AM

No chance here; it's snowing!

Posted by: djellison Dec 14 2009, 07:44 AM

It was so cloudy - I couldn't even see the clouds. Just horizon to horizon of total nothing.

Posted by: Tman Dec 14 2009, 08:04 AM

Wow Stu, I hadn't had your persistence.

As usual for this time of the year, steady high fog here all night. At least better so than weather that fool you all night long.

Posted by: brellis Dec 14 2009, 09:08 AM

It was great in Pasadena, CA. Between 12:12 and 12:20, there were about 8 per minute!

No long streaks, prolly due to city light pollution. Dang cities!

Posted by: brellis Dec 14 2009, 05:42 PM

I think I saw one coming almost straight down at me. It flared very brightly but only moved a tiny bit laterally.

Posted by: climber Dec 14 2009, 06:55 PM

Iridium Flare

Posted by: PhilCo126 Dec 15 2009, 04:39 PM

Excellent weather at the Belgian coastline with on average 2 to 3 per minute...
Cold and long nights with Winter's solstice only a week away, but nice to see Mars & Saturn again

Posted by: brellis Dec 15 2009, 06:04 PM

climber, I'm not sure it was an iridium flare. This thing fizzled out like a meteor. That said, it could have been. I keep an eye out for visible satellite passes, so I know what that pace feels like going by. As it died down, it did have that sort of pace.

Whatever it was, I ain't seen nuthin' like it before!

Posted by: nprev Dec 16 2009, 01:51 AM

Hey...point meteors gotta happen to somebody somewhere! Hope you were one of the lucky ones, Brellis!

Posted by: bkellysky Dec 16 2009, 02:25 AM

Saw a few Saturday evening at our astronomy night norhter of New York City.
When I got up at 520am EST Monday, I saw two in 45 seconds through my skylight which was framing the Big Dipper. One was as bright as Venus and another a little less bright than the bright stars in the Dipper. I went outside but clouds appeared and I could only see two in a few minutes through the clouds. But that may bode well for next year!

bob

Posted by: mchan Dec 17 2009, 01:31 AM

If it was around midnight local time as you indicated in an earlier post and it was coming down from zenith, then it was not an Iridium flare. Iridium sats are in fairly low earth orbit and would be in Earth's shadow at zenith at local midnight.

I suspect Climber was being humorous.

If you really want to check, go to the http://www.heavens-above.com/ website.

Posted by: brellis Dec 17 2009, 04:53 AM

thanks, mchan. It was almost dead straight overhead. Heavens Above is the first place I check for visible satellite passes.

I was in Pasadena, CA at the time. Is there a site where people compare notes on such stuff, besides right here?

Posted by: mchan Dec 19 2009, 01:25 AM

There is the http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html. A lot of the stuff here is above and beyond (pun intended) me so I don't visit it much. Your mileage may vary.