GEMINID METEOR SHOWER [[ASAP]]

[followeratheart]

On December 14th 2006 there will be a meteor shower peak called the Geminids located near the Geminid constellation. About 50-120 meteors an hour will be seen on this date. However, some of us do not know when this will happen and what time would be the best to watch this event.<br /><br />AT WHICH TIME FROM 6pm (thursday 14th) to 3am (friday 15th) WILL BE THE BEST TIME TO WATCH????<br />AND-are the skies planned to be clear this night and morning?

 

[MeteorWayne]

I am writing up a detailed post on the Geminids in the next day or two. They produce the best reliable year to year rates of any shower. While August's Perseids have similar rates, the hazy summertime skies often hide many of the fainter meteors. December usually has drier, and therefore darker skies.<br />They are visible from Dec 7th to the 17th, with the peak this year at 10:45 UT on the 14th (5:45 AM EST).<br /><br />In general, in the northern hemisphere the Geminids are visiblie all night long, with the radiant rising shortly after sunset and reaching it's highest elevation about 2AM. It's almost the perfect position for an all night meteor shower. If you tell me where you are I can give specific information for your site.<br /><br />Considering the peak time, and the radiant elevation, highest rates should be observed between midnight of the 13-14 and dawn on the 14th, but still should be a good show before midnight.<br /><br />The peak is actually the morning before the one you mentioned.<br />If you can only observe Thursday night and Friday morning rates should be less than half of the maximum.<br />You'd be better off watching the night before the peak when rates would be about 3/4 of the peak rate. The Geminids fall off rapidly after the peak.<br /><br />I always plan for the sky to be clear, but sometimes it doesn't work out <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br /><br />Since it's two weeks away, any weather forecast would be worthless at this point.<br /><br />More info over the weekend<br /><br />Meteor Wayne<br /><br /> 12/2 Edit for activity before and after peak. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>