Tag Archives: Geminids

In the Sky This Week – December 11, 2018

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This entry is part 73 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

Mercury joins Venus and Spica in the southeastern predawn sky this week. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; the Moon will appear near Mars on Dec. 14th. See if you can spot all these objects in the south-southwestern sky at dusk on Dec. 11th. Observing Target: Fomalhaut The star Fomalhaut (see above image) is one of the brightest stars in the sky; it is a main sequence class A star approximately 25 light-years from the Sun. In a small telescope, it looks pretty much like any another bright star – but this star has a story! A ring of dust was discovered around this star, being shepherded by a large exoplanet with a 2000-year orbit! This exoplanet has be directly imaged using the Hubble Space Telescope. This humorous video about exoplanet Fomalhaut B was released before Halloween 2012: The Moon The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening. The Moon will be … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 4, 2018

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This entry is part 72 of 73 in the series In the Sky This Week

A very thin waning crescent Moon joins the weeks-long conjunction of Venus and Spica in the southeastern predawn sky on Dec. 4th. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars is slowly fading in brightness as the Earth pulls away from it in its orbit (see solar system image below). The very thin waxing crescent Moon will appear near Saturn in the southwestern sky at dusk on Dec. 8th. The constellation Orion is high in the southeastern sky at midnight. Observing Target: M33 – The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 (or NGC 598) is a spiral galaxy located approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Andromeda Galaxy and our Milky Way. M33 is one of the most distant objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. NGC 604 is a large star-birth region within The Triangulum Galaxy. NGC 604 is similar to the Orion Nebula in our Milky Way galaxy, but nearly 100 times larger! More … Continue reading →

Skyward: September 2018

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When Meteors Graze the Sky If I were just getting started in astronomy, who knows what field would have attracted me? In the 1960s it was comets, and I have no regrets. And notwithstanding the truism that there are no ifs in history, it is possible that I would have chosen meteors instead. Besides, meteors and comets are closely related. Each time a comet rounds the Sun, tiny specks of dust come off its surface. These specks of dust orbit the Sun in the same orbit as the parent comet, but when the Earth crosses that orbit, those specks of dust may enter the atmosphere and burn up. Thus, while we may spot a comet but once in its orbit, its meteors we can see every year. Click and scroll on this interactive display of the Perseid meteoroid stream: Because of that, throughout the year we are treated to very good shows of meteors. But each year, the same meteor … Continue reading →

Skyward: January 2018

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The Geminids! The Geminids are the most active, surprising, gorgeous, and wonderful meteor shower of the entire year. I recall first observing this meteor shower on December 13, 1961 from Montreal. During observing session No.12E that night, I observed 15 meteors. Over the decades since then, I have counted thousands of Geminid meteors, all appearing to radiate from a point in the sky within the constellation of Gemini. The Geminids are the richest meteor shower of the year, but the 2017 version was fantastic even by its own standards. During session 20201RM2 on December 13, 2017 (I’ve had lots of observing sessions since 1961), over the course of about 90 minutes, I counted 64 meteors, of which some were so bright that I captured them on film. The attached pictures show two versions of the brightest meteor I saw that night. One includes a view of the sky over the Jarnac Observatory including that wondrous shooting star as it scratched … Continue reading →

Geminids Meteor Shower 2017: Dec. 17-18

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The Geminids is a major meteor shower with good activity prior to midnight; the constellation of Gemini is well placed for viewing from 10:00 PM till dawn. Geminid meteors can be bright and intensely colored, but due to their medium-slow velocity rarely they leave persistent trains. The Geminids can be seen in the southern hemisphere, but only during the middle of the night, and at a reduced rate to viewers in the northern hemisphere. Peak: December 13-14 Active from: December 4th to December 16th Radiant: 07:28 +32.2° (see image above) Hourly Rate: 120 Velocity: 22 miles/sec (medium – 35km/sec) Parent Object: Asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) Source: American Meteor Society The Moon is a waning crescent on this day, rising with the dawn; it should not hinder the viewing of this meteor shower. Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is classified as an Apollo-type Near-Earth Object (NEO), and a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). Phaethon approaches the Sun closer than any other named asteroid, with a perihelion … Continue reading →

Geminids Meteor Shower 2017: Dec. 17-18

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The Geminids is a major meteor shower with good activity prior to midnight; the constellation of Gemini is well placed for viewing from 10:00 PM till dawn. Geminid meteors can be bright and intensely colored, but due to their medium-slow velocity rarely they leave persistent trains. The Geminids can be seen in the southern hemisphere, but only during the middle of the night, and at a reduced rate to viewers in the northern hemisphere. Peak: December 13-14 Active from: December 4th to December 16th Radiant: 07:28 +32.2° (see image above) Hourly Rate: 120 Velocity: 22 miles/sec (medium – 35km/sec) Parent Object: Asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) Source: American Meteor Society The Moon is a waning crescent on this day, rising with the dawn; it should not hinder the viewing of this meteor shower. Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is classified as an Apollo-type Near-Earth Object (NEO), and a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). Phaethon approaches the Sun closer than any other named asteroid, with a perihelion … Continue reading →