Geminid Meteor Shower (Dec 12-14th)

The 2013 Geminid meteor shower is expected to peak on the night of December 13-14, though the night before (December 12-13) should offer a decent sprinkling of meteors as well. The show starts at mid-to-late evening and ends at dawn. The meteors tend to be few and far between at early evening, but intensify in number as evening deepens into late night. Don’t let the moonlight discourage you. These meteors are bright! No matter your location, Geminid meteors will fall most abundantly after midnight on December 13 and 14.

Although the Geminid shower favors the Northern Hemisphere, it’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere, too. The Geminids start streaking the sky by mid-evening in the Northern Hemisphere, but people at temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere may have to wait until late evening, or close to midnight, to see the beginning of the Geminid shower. Follow the links below to learn more about the Geminid meteor shower in 2013.

earthsky.org...

Just a heads up.... literally

I always try to keep up on things falling from the sky...

Hopefully we'll be able to see a few Meteors tonight if you can stand the cold weather

Sweet! Although I will wait until tomorrow night, so it isn't a work night.
Thank goodness for black carhartts!!!! I'll even wear hubby's bibs. I hate the cold (single digits here at night)
But it should be worth the show.

reply to post by Akragon


...and the units per hour is staggering, but no info on the ison fragments joining the party. Is it possible that this could be like the start of a game of pool??? like a huge break???

reply to post by chiefsmom


"RedHead" thermal socks are a must. Trust me.

I too will wait untill tomorrow. Camera in hand of course!

reply to post by KawRider9


Awesome!

Be sure to post any good pics you happen to get...

Hope you have a good camera

It is too FREAKING COLD OUT!

Or I would be out with my camera! I am afraid it will freeze or I will! BRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I`ve been waiting for this meteor shower and last nights show looked very promising, but now its clouded over and raining and looks to be staying that way for next couple of days.



Be good if anyone does post any pictures.

I am so looking forward to the show! Unfortunately I missed the last few
showers. I bloody hate cold weather but will try me best to see a few.
Thanks for the post OP so I did not have to go searching else where.

I compete in Sheep Herding & I make competitors aware of showers when
they are happening. Got it wrong one year & had folks up at 2am & showers
not until 4am due to time differences...LOL! Luckily no one was upset.

Cheers
Ektar

reply to post by Akragon


Awesome thank you I didnt realize and would have missed it completely if not for your post.

reply to post by Akragon


Damn winter storm is moving in. I'll try and get good pics through the snow.

Gonna be a long night.

reply to post by KawRider9


I will have to look them up.

And my camera will be on the tripod.
I'm afraid I will be shaking too much to take a good picture if I'm holding it!

Yeah, we are having the same problem with the storm, but if nothing else, it should be over by Saturday night, so if I don't luck out tonight, I will try again then.

this is sooo exciting, clear sky tonight so its going to be a good show!

for those who arent able to view the event can do so using this live stream, which will start at 5:30pm EST.

LINK

The online skywatching website Slooh and NASA will air two webcasts in honor of the Geminid meteor shower, peaking Friday (Dec. 13) night. Slooh will begin its broadcast at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT), while NASA will start its "up all night" web chat at 11 p.m. EST (0400 Dec. 14 GMT). Both webcasts will run through the night and you can watch them in the windows below.

edit-because of the poor visibility it will switch to a different observatory, show wont start til 7:30pm EST

was just outside smoking a cigarette and saw a purdy aqua colored meteor. a few minutes later i saw two more. didnt know there was supposed to be a meteor shower tonight.

I saw a nice sized meteor from this shower a few hours ago. It really made my day (night?) because all of 2013's previous showers have been a bust for me. Cloudy/raining or the moon's light drowned them out. Nice, bright blue fireball, about the size of a small fingernail at arm's length. Not huge (to me) but not tiny, either. And very pretty, the blue was, for the lack of a better way to put it, very "crisp" in color. I have a Sony Cyber-shot that can take acceptable 30-second exposures. I may set the tripod up outside in a bit, just to see if it catches anything my eye can't.

I'm Just North of Tucson and I've been in and out of the house periodically to watch them but I was just out side for a full hour and saw 49 from 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM. Altogether tonight Ive seen 85. Its really cold so Im going to warm up a little before I go back out but Ill let you guys know my total.

caught a biggy last night.. awesome.

So heres what I got. Just north of Tucson I observed 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM 49 meteors, 3:30 AM - 4:30 AM 50 meteors, 4:30 AM - 5:30 AM 65 meteors. My total was 220 but thats including the first couple hours when I was going in and out of the house and a little bit after 5:30 when I just didn't want to go inside because I didn't want them to be over. I must say I probably saw more meteors tonight than I have in my whole life. I'm 23 and used to live in Chicago so I didn't ever get to see things like this. I also saw the moon set for the first time and a satellite. It was a great night and I can't wait for next year. Hope you guys had a good night too.

I wonder if anyone in the Boston area saw this, not sure if it is a meteor or not? But it looks big, circled in red.

This was captured on Intellicast December 14, 2013 at 12:25 UTC

Another capture from G7IZU Radar

reply to post by Akragon


I stayed up till 3AM taking pics..............Of snow.

I'll try again tonight.

*snipping snow!

I sat outside for about an hour after my post, until I was chased inside by a surprise encore of my complex's sprinklers activating. Nada spotted with my own eyes, nada caught on camera I live smack in the middle of a pretty populated area, though, light pollution washes out a ton of the night sky here. I caught some of the brightest stars, and some nice long exposures of clouds passing by, some resulted in some cool appearances. I'll probably add them to the astrophotographers' thread later today or this evening, I think they'd fit that thread's theme.