“Geminid meteor shower gets rave reviews as best of 2010 - The Christian Science Monitor” plus 1 more |
| Geminid meteor shower gets rave reviews as best of 2010 - The Christian Science Monitor Posted: 15 Dec 2010 05:35 AM PST Skywatchers around the globe sang praises to the Geminid meteor shower, the annual mid-December rain of meteors passing through the earth's atmosphere. The year's best meteor shower peaked Monday night (Dec. 13), giving skywatchers around the world an incredible show. Skip to next paragraph"Best meteor shower I have ever seen," James Champagne, viewing from Madera Canyon, Ariz., wrote on the site SpaceWeather.com, where he posted several pictures of the Geminid meteor shower. "The show was impressive allrite," he wrote to SPACE.com. "Seeing 5-7 meteors per minute was normal. Often times 2 meteors at a time." The Geminid meteor shower is an annual mid-December rain of meteors that occurs when Earth passes through a stream of space rock debris. As these small rocks fly through the atmosphere, they burn up, creating shooting stars. Geminid meteors should still be visible for a few days, though their peak has passed. "I saw 50 Geminids in two hours in spite of a very luminous moon, so it was a good show this year but not an extraordinary one," Guillaume Cannat, who watched from Mont Aigoual in the south of France, wrote in an e-mail to SPACE.com. Cannat was able to capture a gorgeous photo of a meteor streaking across the star-speckled indigo sky. Viewing from Cloudbait Observatory in the Colorado Rockies, Chris Peterson said he saw a good show. "I captured 229 Geminids on the peak night, and 363 over four nights," he wrote in an e-mail. "I estimate the peak visual rate at 120 meteors per hour." Others, however, had less favorable weather to watch the show. "The weather in Colorado recently has been perfect... for skiers and snowboarders, not stargazing!" said Jimmy Westlake, an astronomy professor at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs, Colo. But Westlake was able to catch a few hours of clear skies between snow storms on Sunday (Dec. 12). That night, over the course of about three hours, "I (unofficially) counted 3-4 dozen Geminid meteors," he wrote in an e-mail. Luckily, he was able to capture one of the brightest Geminids of the night in a photo of a bright streak running through the plane of the Milky Way. Viewing from Hermosillo, Mexico, Salvador Aguirre captured a bright streak low on the horizon with an all-sky camera. And Sylvain Weiller from Saint Remy lès Chevreuse, France, caught a Geminid on video. "Could not believe it :) Was not a plane, nor a satellite nor an Iridium ... I must had some incredible luck to get such a Geminid," he wrote on SpaceWeather.com, where he posted the video. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Meteor Shower and Total Lunar Eclipse to Wow Skywatchers This Month - YAHOO! Posted: 11 Dec 2010 07:16 PM PST Skywatchers, grab your blankets. December's night sky spectacular will feature the best meteor shower of 2010 as well as the only total lunar eclipse of the year -- sights that should outshine any New Year's Eve fireworks display in terms of sheer wonder. The massive Geminid meteor shower returns every year, so you'll have more chances if the cold proves too daunting on the night of Dec. 13. But anyone in North America who skips the total lunar eclipse on the night of Dec. 20 will be missing what promises to be the best lunar eclipse show until April 2014. [Local guides: The best spots to stargaze in your area] This year's Geminid meteor shower is expected to be the best display of so-called "shooting stars" of the year and will peak during the overnight hours of Dec. 13 and Dec. 14. Dazzling Geminid meteor shower Like most meteor showers, the Geminids will be at their best after midnight (early on the morning of Dec. 14), when the Earth is heading directly into the meteoroid stream. But some will be visible earlier in the night, on the evening of Dec. 13, because the meteors' radiant (where they appear to originate) is nearly circumpolar, so they will stay in view above the horizon all night. [See also: Scientists cry foul over NASA 'life form' find] This sky map shows where to look to see the Geminid meteor shower in the direction of the constellation Gemini. Clear dark skies, of course, promise the best viewing conditions. Anyone venturing outside should dress much more warmly than normal to prepare for a long night vigil while sitting still. Don't forget to get comfortable: A lawn chair with a reclining back and a blanket or sleeping bag should keep skywatchers snug — no binoculars or telescope are necessary. Most meteor showers are caused by fragments of old comets scattered along a comet's orbit. When the Earth passes through a comet's orbit, it sweeps up the fragments, which become visible as bright streaks of light in the atmosphere. The Geminid shower is unique in being associated not with a comet, but with an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon. The Geminids' radiant is, as the name implies, in the direction of the constellation Gemini, just north of the northernmost of Gemini's two brightest stars, Castor and Pollux. In the early evening of Dec. 13, the radiant is low in the northeast. By 1 a.m. EST, after the date has changed to Dec. 14, the radiant is almost directly overhead. By 6.a.m. EST, when the shower is at its peak in the Eastern Time Zone, the radiant is low in the west. Moon's holiday treat The December holiday sky show doesn't end with the Geminid meteor shower. On the nights of Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, parts of four continents will be treated to a total eclipse of the moon — the only one to occur in 2010. This NASA lunar eclipse chart shows the visibility of the eclipse from different regions around the world. The last total lunar eclipse occurred on Feb. 20, 2008. While there are two total lunar eclipses in 2011, North American skywatchers will have to wait until April 2014 for one as potentially spectacular as the eclipse occurring this month. [Amazing Total Lunar Eclipse Photos] Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes through a point in its orbit in which the Earth is directly between it and the sun. When the moon enters the shadow of Earth, it creates a lunar eclipse. Unlike a solar eclipse, no precautions to protect the eyes are needed. A total lunar eclipse is when the entire moon is completely inside the Earth's shadow. Since the sun's rays are bent by Earth's atmosphere so that some still reach the moon, the moon is still visible in an eclipse. Lunar eclipse skywatching tips For the Western Hemisphere, the eclipse will "officially" begin on Dec. 21 at 12:29 a.m. EST (9:29 p.m. PST on Dec. 20) as the moon begins to enter Earth's outer, or penumbral, shadow. As for the Geminid meteor shower, don't forget to dress warm. But you won't be outside all night moongazing. This total lunar eclipse lasts only 72 minutes from start to finish. [Related: Where, how astronomers could find alien life] But even in clear weather, skywatchers will not notice any changes in the moon's appearance until about 45 minutes into the event, when a slight "smudge," or shading, begins to become evident on the upper left portion of the moon's disk. The entire total lunar eclipse will be visible from all of North and South America, the northern and western parts of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii. In all, an estimated 1.5 billion people will have an opportunity to enjoy the best part of this lunar show. In other parts of the world, only the partial stages of the eclipse will be visible or the eclipse will occur when it's daytime and the moon is not above their local horizon. [See also: Japan space probe shoots past Venus] Portions of western Africa and central Europe can catch the opening stages of the eclipse before the moon sets below the horizon during the morning hours of Dec. 21, while the eastern third of Asia and central and eastern Australia can catch the closing stages just after moonrise on the evening of Dec. 21. December's total lunar eclipse and Geminid meteor shower promise to ring the year 2010 out with a dazzling show, weather permitting, this holiday season. But bundle up and stay warm! SPACE.com Skywatching columnist Joe Rao and Starry Night Software's Geoff Gaherty contributed to this December skywatching tips report. SPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including our space image of the day and other space pictures,space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by our users. Join our community, sign up for our free newsletters and register for our RSS Feeds today!Other popular stories on Yahoo! 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