Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Geminid Meteor Shower TONIGHT!
Slooh ^ | 13DEC2014 | FR Staff Writer

Posted on 12/13/2014 9:27:57 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine

You can follow live coverage of the shower at the link. They are using a meteor shower radio, from their listening post in New Mexico, to listen when the meteors strike the atmosphere and leave an ionized gas trail that reflects radio waves.

The radiant is located in the constellation of Gemini which is in the NW direction about 40 degrees above the horizon.

Dress warmly!


TOPICS: Astronomy; Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: gemini; geminids; meteor; shower
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 12/13/2014 9:27:57 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

I stood outside for about 15 minutes and saw six of them.


2 posted on 12/13/2014 9:28:52 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Stellarium is a good app to download for free and show you where Gemini and the other constellations are located.

http://www.stellarium.org/


3 posted on 12/13/2014 9:29:42 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

The Moon hasn’t risen yet, but when it does it’ll be a half-Moon.

Moon rise on the West coast is about 12:50am tonight.


4 posted on 12/13/2014 9:34:33 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

ScienceCasts: Embers from a Rock Comet: The 2014 Geminid Meteor Shower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT3D6t8VT-k


5 posted on 12/13/2014 9:52:20 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Overcast here in Texas.


6 posted on 12/13/2014 9:58:07 PM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fwdude

Cloudy here in MA


7 posted on 12/13/2014 10:00:47 PM PST by mowowie (`)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Saw 20 in about 10 min in an arc extending from North to West.


8 posted on 12/13/2014 10:08:32 PM PST by Rebelbase
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Where in NM is their listening post? Tuesday night I drove south past the Very Large Array. It was a cloudy and rainy night, as is tonight. It’s the perfect spot for those giant listening dishes. Always amazes me just how desolate it is out there. Couldn’t see more than 100yrds in any direction with the cloud cover, and no lights to be seen anywhere most of the drive. Heck, when I needed to stop and pee, I just stopped right there in the middle of the highway, since I don’t think I saw but one other pick up for that whole stretch, and that was before 10 pm. Very quiet and no earthly lights to obscure the night sky.


9 posted on 12/13/2014 10:09:08 PM PST by Carthego delenda est
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine; Slings and Arrows; GeronL

I’m getting in the shower now, please keep me updated.


10 posted on 12/13/2014 10:21:32 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise

lol


11 posted on 12/13/2014 10:25:29 PM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Just came back from a beach in Carmel. Saw about 10 over an hour.


12 posted on 12/13/2014 10:59:24 PM PST by jcon40
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

I was outside — in Southern Idaho — for five minutes and saw two of them. Wind chill is 23 degrees here. After the five minutes the thrill was gone!


13 posted on 12/13/2014 11:01:26 PM PST by StevieB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise; SunkenCiv

Clear skies (north GA mountains, 2;00 AM eastern) but the moon is up ... Was outside for a little while, but nothing visible. Lots of nearby lights though.


14 posted on 12/13/2014 11:02:30 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Foggy and cloudy here tonight. Fricking global warming....


15 posted on 12/13/2014 11:12:56 PM PST by Sawdring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mowowie

I saw a few here in MA. They were very long streaks.


16 posted on 12/13/2014 11:30:28 PM PST by jonatron (This is the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Ah. So it is a meteor shower.

I saw two pretty good ones. I figured there must a meteor shower.


17 posted on 12/14/2014 1:59:14 AM PST by ifinnegan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

Bump!


18 posted on 12/14/2014 2:14:19 AM PST by 4Liberty (Prejudice and generalizations. That's how Collectivists roll......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

The missus and I decided to sit on the back porch and watch the sky, not knowing this was tonight. Saw 15 in an hour, even being in a not so good area to watch. At least 2 spectacular ones burned across the sky for us. It was one of the best shows we ever saw. Really wonderful...


19 posted on 12/14/2014 2:18:29 AM PST by Dubh_Ghlase
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Robert A. Cook, PE; brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; steelyourfaith; ...

The problem with annual showers is, no one can be sure that there will be much of a show. Before radio, the discovery of annual showers was achieved optically, by astronomers. The only media was the newspaper and books, and so going out to watch for meteors was big big fun.

Some of the annual showers were much more impressive, apparently hitting a peak during a few consecutive years, and thereafter apparently dying out.

On any clear night, one will probably notice perhaps four or five per hour, but in my experience, 99 percent of the time (at least) it will be in the peripheral vision, and gone by the time one turns one’s head. I’ve only seen one daylight meteor, and it was amazing stuff, lasting a good ten seconds before dropping below the sightline. Never heard anything further, probably was far off and finished disintegrating, arriving at the surface as grains of, well, sand.

The existence of these streams is verified by radioastronomy, or rather, it has been and can be, because they make a signal as they burn through or largely burn up in the atmosphere.

Thanks Robert A. Cook, PE, extra to APoD.


20 posted on 12/14/2014 5:16:19 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/ _____________________ Celebrate the Polls, Ignore the Trolls)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson