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Geminid Meteor Shower

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:56 AM
from the break-out-your-hard-hat dept.
Space
An anonymous reader writes "physorg.com is carrying a story on the upcoming Geminid meteor shower, which will peak on December 13th. This is usually a high-rate meteor shower, and this year will be no different. The early morning hours are the best time to see them. Space.com is also reporting on the shower. This shower was also covered by Slashdot in 2003, 2002, and 2001."
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story
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  • Naked eyes and/or binoculars... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by datastalker (775227) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:00PM (#11066753) Homepage
    Remember kids, for best viewing experience, just lie on the ground facing up - most of this can be seen with the naked eyes. If you want to try binoculars, that might work as well - but telescopes are not needed for this one. If someone had told me that the first time I went out to look, I wouldn't have wasted those first two hours wondering why I couldn't see anything. ;)

  • Meteor Shower? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:01PM (#11066754)
    Sounds painful, I'll stick with the more traditional water based shower thanks.

  • Light pollution (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FiReaNGeL (312636) <<fireang3l> <at> <hotmail.com>> on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:03PM (#11066774) Homepage
    I sure love meteor showers (as everyone does I guess; I mean, free wishes!), but observing them in non-light polluted areas [inquinamentoluminoso.it] ain't easy. You have to get out of town, and even then, finding a 100% dark place is an adventure nowadays.
    • However, we got out far enough in the country last night for a party that we got to see about 20-30 events before getting in the car to head home. It simply rocked. Hoping to get out somewhere in the countryside again tomorrow night to try and catch more of them.

    • I reckon you are assuming that all of us here are city folk, then ain't ya?

      I live in an area so dark at night the lightning bugs wake us up in the springtime.

      Damn them critters.

      • At least you still have them. Thirty years ago, we would get swarms of thousands upon thousands of them. But I read that they need low-hanging shrubs and bushes and the like to reproduce, and since so much of my area has been built up in the past few decades you hardly ever see lightning bugs any more. Too bad, they really are a neat adaptation. As a kid I would collect them in a bottle and watch them blink by my bedside all night, and let them go in the morning.

        Quite a few years ago I went up to Rhi
    • The best stargazing I've ever done was after helping a friend build a tent platform on Blewitt Pass in Washington state. I saw so many stars I thought my eyes were broken. I now unerstand why we were building a tent platform and not a cabin. I developed a whole new appreciation for star gazing. I still don't get the whole constellations naming thing. I don't see the pictures nor do I see the appeal.

      • Re:Light pollution (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Cecil (37810) on Sunday December 12 2004, @01:41PM (#11067240) Homepage
        I still don't get the whole constellations naming thing. I don't see the pictures nor do I see the appeal.

        The reason we still bother having constellations today is because they provide an easy way of mapping the sky in your head (at least once you get to know them). It's the similar to the way saying something is in Northern Canada gives you a better idea of where it is than saying something is at 61.297 N 112.883 W, even though the former is completely arbitrary.
    • Does anyone know of a good, high-resolution light pollution map? That would really help. In N.E., the best place to go is usually Vermont or Maine, with some decent viewing in the less touristy / highway-laced portions of western MA and northern NH.

      Woefully, for this shower, NE is going to be cloudy :-(
    • I have a question about the map you linked to

      http://www.inquinamentoluminoso.it/download/mond o_ ridotto0p25.gif

      Are the Falklands Islands (or Maldives if you prefer) really that bright? They appear to be the most light-polluted spot in South America and that just seems odd to me. Perhaps it is an optical illusion of the projection used in the map.
  • OK, you bastards. Who forgot to turn off the tap?
  • Weather forecast calls for clouds, rain and snow for the next 2-3 days. :-(

    Why can't they schedule these things for clear nights?
  • This shower was also covered by Slashdot in 2003, 2002, and 2001.

    It's been running for three years? Which one of you bastards forgot to turn off the tap?

  • Meteor scatter (Score:5, Interesting)

    by latroM (652152) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:21PM (#11066843) Homepage Journal
    Meteor showers used by radio amateurs for meteor scatter [meteorscatter.net]. Basically they point their beams at the meteor shower when it hits earth and have long distance QSOs (radio amateur contacts) by bouncing their signal from the rocks.

    • Re:Meteor scatter (Score:4, Informative)

      by Flying Purple Wombat (787087) on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:43PM (#11066947)
      The signals are actually reflected from the trails of ionized gas created by the rocks burning up in the atmosphere. The rocks themselves are far too small to be useful reflectors.

    • Ham radio gear not required (Score:4, Interesting)

      by w9wi (162482) on Sunday December 12 2004, @02:42PM (#11067559)
      It may be possible to observe the radio effects of the meteor shower without being a ham or having an extensive station.

      Regular FM radio and TV broadcasts are also reflected by the ionized trails.

      Try tuning to an empty channel, as low on the dial as possible. Of course, for TV you'll need a set with a regular antenna, not cable or satellite. For FM, your car radio is probably the best radio you own for this purpose.

      Sit there and listen/watch. You should see/hear brief bursts of signal. If you're really lucky, you'll hear something that will allow you to identify the station you saw/heard.

      Might be something interesting to listen to while you're waiting for visible meteors -- or for the clouds to go away...
  • We're socked in with nothing but clouds now for the last three days straight. I look like Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining,' and my paranoia has the best of me right now. Say "hello" to Mr. Seasonal Affective Disorder.
  • This is news? This meteor storm happens every year, for millions of years! What next, a "fusion breakthrough" story about the mass of incandescent gas rising above the horizon every morning? ... OK, kidding: I love the announcements of astrophysical displays appearing on Slashdot. It's like "Weather for Nerds" in our little chromium-oxide rag. Maybe I've had too much holiday cheer, and am getting in touch with my inner Grinch.
    • If a tree falls in the woods and noone's there to hear it fall, will it still make noise? If the Earth moves through the Geminid stream and noone reports on it, will there still be a meteor shower?
      • No, Anonymous loser Coward, I am actually a geek, because I can relate to other people, not just machines. You aren't even a nerd, because you can't recognize a joke even when it's explicitly labeled. You are some kind of undefined loser, dragging arbitrary hatred and insults out of nowhere, anonymously, flinging them at someone you don't understand. Knowing I'm better than you doesn't make me "elitist"; it just shows that my spinal cord is connected firmly to my brain. Your slimy trail on this thread is di
  • Brockman: (Wearing tons of gold jewelery after Old Springfield discovers gold in dry river) "Thanks to the people in New Springfield, we'll all be taking golden showers!"

    (Studio crew busts up)

    Brockman: "......what?"

  • Remember, in a few weeks, the year number will increment for all users of the Gregorian calendar.

    You read it here on /. first! Warn all your friends -- don't be one of those saps still writing 2004 on your checks come next January!

  • Perhaps I'll see a streak or two as I'm trudging to my Statistics for Engineers exam at 0645 AM or so.

    Two years ago I stayed out till 4am or so watching Leonids, they were cool but the display was dissapointing (even tho skys were clear) compared to how much they had been hyped as having a huge turnout that year. Would probably stay out and look for these but that exam...
  • Go to Mt. Pinos. If you live around the LA area, just hop on the I-5 north. Keep going until you get to a sign that says "Frazier Park" and turn off. Then head past the gas stations and keep on going straight. You'll pass through town, into the hills (with lots of little country homes) and finally into the winding road that goes up Mount Pinos. As you go up the windy little road, you'll notice little signs on the right side of the road that have numbers on them... The road ends at 13.50.

    When you arrive, the view is just breathtaking. Every constellation clearly visible. The end of the road is a large, cleared parking area ringed by trees up to about 20 degrees elevation. And it's definetly Geminid season... I saw about 10 or 12 meteors in the occasional times I looked up over about 3 hours.

    Come heavily dressed (hits freezing before midnight): I find that two shirts and a jacket plus sweat pants and windbreaker pants will keep you warm for about 3-4 hours.

    To get an idea of the weather, use the Mt. Pinos Dark Sky Clock [philharrington.net].

  • Come on over. :) (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Shag (3737) * <.dan. .at. .birchalls.net.> on Sunday December 12 2004, @03:15PM (#11067721) Homepage
    A bunch of us hardy souls will doubtless be at the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station [hawaii.edu] at 9200 feet, watching.

    (I'd watch from the summit [hawaii.edu] but it's gonna be colder up there.)

    The most convenient airports are ITO and KOA in that order. :)

  • Ok, I'm a college student in Minneapolis, and personally, I think this is a GREAT opportunity for a romantic hookup. (Whats this? A slashdotter hooking up?!)

    But what I want to know is, where near Minneapolis (less than 30 min. drive preferably) can I go to see this clearly? I mean, I'd feel like a retard if we drove out there and then its like, whoops, no meteor shower.

    Also, whats the best time to drive out to watch?

  • OK, is it just me, or does the word "upcoming" seem to imply enough time to actually plan to watch this? I mean, if it peaks tomorrow that's not much advance notice, now is it?

    Though maybe the submitter sent in the article last week, and Taco just didn't get around to publishing it until today. Let's check the original article....

    The best meteor shower of 2004 peaks on Dec. 13th

    December 10, 2004

    Yeah, three days is enough notice to clear a schedule. Thirteen hours ain't. Thanks for nuthin, Commander.
  • so, living on the south edge of a good-sized city... any chance of me seeing this, or should I drive out to the sticks that night?
  • And where do I live? Burien, Washington, where it's going to be raining for the next five days, just as it was for the last five days, and the days before that. ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH. I have a new 10" Dobsonian and I still haven't gotten first light on it!

  • The International Meteor Organization has some guidelines online for reporting your observations of the Geminids. Take a look at http://www.imo.net/news/news.html#geminids2004 [imo.net] Good luck... Luc

    • Ok, i'll bite (Score:4, Informative)

      by daniil (775990) <evilbj8rn@hotmail.com> on Sunday December 12 2004, @12:37PM (#11066928) Journal
      Don't worry if you miss this one, for Mother Nature has a Christmas present for you. The Ursids [amsmeteors.org] are next. They max out on December 22-23. It's not as strong as the Geminid shower, but hey, it's still better than nothing.
      • Ok, so what you're telling us that this story is a dupe of a dupe of a dupe?

        No. In order to qualify as an official "dupe," a story must be posted an unreasonably short amount of time after one nearly identical to it, or in such a way as to give comments under said story the grounds to mock the incompetent discernment exercised by a mod in posting the story.
    • Quote from article:

      According to McBeath, the Geminids are predicted to reach peak activity on Monday at 22:20 GMT, which is 5:20 p.m. EST. Locations from Europe and North Africa east to central Russian and Chinese longitudes are in the best position to catch the very crest of the shower, when the rates conceivably could exceed 120 per hour, or two every minute.
    • I saw several Meteors between 11pm last night and 2am this morning on the North Wales coast while doing some field work on some lagoons there (don't ask, Ok). It was certainly the best view of meteors I have had made even better by seeing some reflections of them in the pools. In Somerset you will certainly be able to see them unless you're: a) in a town centre b) standing below a street light c) It's cloudy (Yes, I know someone who spent hours looking on a cloudy night) d) blind e) unlucky It might tak
    • head up to the Mendips, hardly any light pollution there if you stay a few miles away from the radio transmitters.

      Monday night UK time is best apparently
    • depends on the weather. If you have clear skies, you should be able to see some meteors. Quote from article:

      According to McBeath, the Geminids are predicted to reach peak activity on Monday at 22:20 GMT, which is 5:20 p.m. EST. Locations from Europe and North Africa east to central Russian and Chinese longitudes are in the best position to catch the very crest of the shower, when the rates conceivably could exceed 120 per hour, or two every minute.
      • Okay, this is way OT, but, from your link:

        Production Notes/Status:
        Status: Pre-production
        Comments: Filming set to begin Summer 2005?

        So, that's not where he is.

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