Posted on 12/01/2025 5:54:31 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight, December 13
FYI:
The Geminid meteor shower will peak overnight on December 13 -14, with rates of up to 150 meteors possible in the night sky during the peak.
The peak of the shower will occur at around 03:00 UTC on December 14 (21:00 CST on December 13). The best time to watch the meteors will be from late evening on December 13 to the early dawn hours of December 14.
The meteor shower can be observed live on a YouTube stream by the Virtual Telescope Project, set to begin at 21:00 UTC (15:00 CST) on December 13.
How to look for Geminids
Look for Geminid meteors streaking away from a point of origin close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini, which rises above the eastern horizon a few hours after sunset and remains visible throughout the night.
The observing conditions are favorable this year, with the Moon a waning crescent, about 30% illuminated, rising after 02:00 LT on December 14 in many northern locations.
This provides several hours of moon-free darkness during the period when the radiant is rising, and meteor activity is increasing.
The exact moonrise time varies with longitude, so optimal viewing intervals depend on local conditions. After moonrise, observers can continue viewing by facing westward to minimize lunar glare.
https://watchers.news/2025/12/13/geminid-meteor-shower-peaks-tonight-december-13/
The sun sets a little after 2 these days. In about a weeek or so we start gaining daylight. The winters are dark but the summers are glorious.
This is nothing special. In early 1989 we had 20 to 30 below for a couple of weeks. Then we had 40 to 50 below for a couple of weeks. Then it got cold. Fairbanks was below -60 for about ten days, North Pole was about -70. Coldfoot and McGrath were -80. Now that is cold.
It’s been a big couple of weeks, as you can well imagine!
I was on top of laundry, meal planning, kitchen duty, and general tidying while I was away. My biggest accomplishment was to reorganize pots and pans to a more favorable location WITH the permission of the kids.
For a whole week, I pulled cookware out from their spots, and one day I said out loud, “I think there’s a better place for these!” I actually said those words out loud, not just in my head.
After a few days, I had courage, and I talked with the kids about my suggestions. They liked them! So I pulled the contents from one storage place out, and put the other items back in those places. They really like my organizing work.
Mom/Grandma hard at work. ;)
Two dozen deviled eggs are done for tomorrow’s big family dinner (about 30 people).
I am trying something different ... putting each half in a paper muffin liner. I have 2 egg carriers with depressions where the eggs go, but when people try to get them out, they slip & slide, sometimes go sideways & the filling falls out - it’s a mess. In the muffin liners, the eggs are easy to grab with fingers & they’re not slippery. If one gets messed up, it won’t slide into other ones & mess them up, too.
It’s going to be so cold tomorrow I don’t have to worry about keeping the eggs cold while we are in church - lunch is at two. Today, I bought myself a black long underwear shirt that I can wear with my 3/4 length sleeve shirts & stay warmer. The shirts are dad’s flannel shirts. I kept 3 I liked & my cousin cut off the cuffs & then hemmed the sleeves for me. I love those shirts & wear them all the time, usually over a T-shirt, but tomorrow will be frigid.
Your post reminds me of a particularly awesome trip my family took in the summer of 1970. We lived in central Florida at the time. Every summer we tent camped across the country (and Canada!) from my earliest years to my mid teenage years.
Anyway, that year, we towed a boat behind our station wagon, all through the US, to Fairbanks and Anchorage. Six kids ranging in age from 7-19, with two parents in their very early 40’s. I remember one evening when we camped on the edge of a lake, I think in either the Northwest Territory or maybe Alaska someplace. My older brother and I practiced skipping smooth rocks on the lake. It never seemed like time to go to bed. We met a very nice Native American boy who kept company with us, and could shimmy up a tree barefoot faster than a bear. Turns out it was probably around midnight, but because it always looked like dusk, we didn’t retreat to the tent, until our siblings came looking for us.
It was a memorable trip. I have no idea why dad wanted to tow that boat with us all those thousands of miles. I don’t even remember riding in it when we got anywhere. It’s completely crazy, but yeah, we did that.
They say it’s not the good times that bind a family together as much as the adverse events. Well, that was an adverse summer. None of us have ever forgotten that trip. Memorable in so many ways.
I’ll never forget the sun that barely seems to set in the summer. In the winter, does it stay daylight for more than 4 hours? I can’t picture it, and all I can say is that after two days in Oregon the last two + weeks, I went to the drugstore and bought some chewable vitamin D. It helped me get through the time change.
Stay warm!
I wore thermals under my jeans today. Top notch idea, so stay bundled up, and you’re most of the way there!
Your deviled egg idea is a great one! Have fun!
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