2014 Geminid Meteor Shower

[Christopher K.]

Well, the Geminid meteor shower will occur soon, and once again HRPO will open for the peak night. The Moon will rise at ~11:47pm and will begin hindering view of some of the streaks.

The Geminid radiant lies fewer than two degrees from Castor, a sextuple star system fifty light-years distant. As seen from HRPO, the altitudes of the radiant on the night of 13/14 December are as follows...
8pm = 16˚
9pm = 27˚
10pm = 39˚
11pm = 52˚
12am = 64˚
1am = 77˚

The Highland Road Park Observatory will be open on Saturday 13 December from 9pm to 1am for public viewing. As a rough "guesstimate", if natural sky conditions are excellent (no clouds, low humidity) and taking into account local light pollution, visitors to HRPO may see during the following times...
9pm to 10pm = seven to twelve streaks
10pm to 11pm = nine to sixteen streaks
11pm to 12am = eleven to ninteen streaks
12am to 1am = eleven to nineteen streaks
1am to 2am = ten to seventeen streaks

General tips for viewing meteors include...
*Dress warmly. You'd be surprised how much body heat you lose while immobile.
*Do not consume alcohol of any sort. Even the smallest amount hinders night vision.
*Do not allow your electronic device (flip phone, smart phone, etc.) to glow in your eyes unless you can have it glow red and faint. Each second of greyish or white light will destroy night vision for at least one minute.
*Do not break any laws or ignore any basic safety principles to increase the chance of seeing more meteor streaks; it's not worth it.

All visitors to HRPO must follow city ordinances, park rules and personnel instructions while on observatory property.

[Christopher K.]

The Geminids are underway right now. During the past forty-eight hours NASA's All-Sky Network has detected dozens of fireballs. Tomorrow night (the peak) Geminids should appear as soon as it gets completely dark. Patrons should see at least ten streaks between midnight at 1am at HRPO.

Robert Lunsford, once again, has penned an informative essay...
http://www.amsmeteors.org/2014/12/viewi ... r-in-2014/

If one's location is clouded out, one may hear meteor "pings" at Spaceweather Radio...
http://spaceweatherradio.com/

[Christopher K.]

HRPO has received phone calls this evening concerning tonight's viewing. It is suggested that before midnight, meteor hunters face the southwest or the northeast, whichever direction is darker. After midnight, looking anywhere should "net" some streaks.

Other celestial features to see during the Geminid event at HRPO include but are not limited to...
*The Pleiades (as soon as it gets dark; binocular object)
*Neptune (from 7:30pm to 8pm only; telescope object)
*Uranus (from 7:30pm to 10pm; telescope object)
*The Orion Nebula (from 8:45pm to 1am; binocular or telescope)
*Jupiter (from 12am to 1am; binocular or telescope)

[Christopher K.]

This shower's 2014 peak was nothing short of spectacular. Approximately 180 patrons attended the HRPO viewing. The weather was quite cooperative and reports from the viewing field south of the main building were positive. Even those who were mostly socializing with others with their eyes off the skies caught a few in peripheral vision. Those dedicated meteor hunters whose eyes stayed glued to the celestial sphere saw dozens.