Geminid meteor shower December

[Carlos]

Geminid activity is between the 7th and 16th of December and they are predicted to peak on the 14th with a peak ZHR of 100 or so, so there should be a good chance of seeing some radiating from the constellation Gemini. The moon will be in its last quarter and rising late so weather permitting it should be good.

 

[fred gordon]

carlos,
Thanks for the headsup on this. Living in the country I have a good chance of seeing something of its clear.

 

[Carlos]

Hopefully this will give you all a good indication were to look.

 

[ArkAngel]

carlos,
Thanks for the headsup on this. Living in the country I have a good chance of seeing something of its clear.

Likewise...time to head off into the middle of nowhere and enjoy natures fireworks
I can feel some LONG exposures coming on with my camera

Is there a specific time when it is best to see them?

(and the first person to say when it's dark will be punished :twak: )

 

[Doc]

Good stuff. Thanks for the headsup. Many of us are vaguely interested in astronomy and I for one would be interested to hear of other events in the night sky.

It would also be interesting to read what can be seen with simple optics. I have often seen the larger moons of Jupiter with my binoculars or stalking telescope, and very interesting it is too. I don't have the knowledge to tell other people when and where to look, but if somebody else does......

 

[Carlos]

Viewing will be best observed from approx 22:00 - 02:00hrs GMT but possibly 20:45hrs would be good time start watching onwards but the radient does not rise till after 22:00hrs. Should be good this year with the new moon promising darker skies so we could get to see some meteors smacking the earths atmosphere at an approximate velocity of 70km/s.

Hey Doc sound like you've got a good set of binoculars. I often do observation with a set of binoculars.

 

[locum76]

nice one, excellent information.

 

[Goose]

Good stuff. Thanks for the headsup. Many of us are vaguely interested in astronomy and I for one would be interested to hear of other events in the night sky.

It would also be interesting to read what can be seen with simple optics. I have often seen the larger moons of Jupiter with my binoculars or stalking telescope, and very interesting it is too. I don't have the knowledge to tell other people when and where to look, but if somebody else does......

An excellent start is to get a planisphere, they are a really good, easy to use resource. The thing I am on about is a circular star chart with the star map printed on the top layer of acetate witth other details printed underneath. You set the date and time and the planisphere shows you what you should see, this includes planets and where they are but you have to refer to the back of the chart. As long as you can find the obvious constellations such as the plough and Orion, btw. look at Orions belt even with simple Bins just under the belt you can see his "sword" this contains the orion nebula really good through bins. Another place to look at with bins is the plaiades(sp) or seven sisters, use your bins and it comes to life with hundreds of stars.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...prev=/images?q=planisphere&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=
A planisphere costs about 5 quid and is brilliant to expand your knowledge, I live in a biggish town surrounded by cities and get really confused by the sky if I go to somewhere "proper" dark as there are too many stars, but still get a buzz to see the milky way, makes you feel REALLY humble.

 

[Ben Trout]

Many thanks, 14th is our Scout night!

 

[Carlos]

Planisphere's are good but you can't really carry them out and about. I have a 'Star Pocket' which is brilliant as it's portable and can be changed for the different hemisperes (great if your away in another country). I got mine from 'Millets' a few years back for £7 (Money well worth spending) added bonus of having a built in compass:

 

[Carlos]

Sorry 'Goose' just checked your url and realised the planisphere you was speaking off is portable (I was imagining a large cumbersome spin chart). The advantage also with the 'Star Pocket' is that can be used in the dark as it has a red led which illuminates the charts when spied through the lens.

 

[Jodie]

Well...tonight's the night apparently, though not that great in the UK.
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071207-ns-geminids.html

I am going to nip out and see if I can see anything... nope, clouds.

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