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Geminid Meteor Shower

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the break-out-your-hard-hat dept.

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."

8 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Naked eyes and/or binoculars... by datastalker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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. ;)

    --
    Find out about the Lexus Rx400h Hybrid!
    1. Re:Naked eyes and/or binoculars... by imsabbel · · Score: 5, Informative

      Binoculars not only dont help, they hurt. Telescopes even more...
      You need to be able to watch as much of the sky as possibly... the small aperture of any maginification device will only cause you to muss most of the events...

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      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
  2. Meteor Shower? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sounds painful, I'll stick with the more traditional water based shower thanks.

  3. Light pollution by FiReaNGeL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I sure love meteor showers (as everyone does I guess; I mean, free wishes!), but observing them in non-light polluted areas ain't easy. You have to get out of town, and even then, finding a 100% dark place is an adventure nowadays.

    --
    Eureka Science News - automatically updated
    1. Re:Light pollution by Cecil · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Random and weird software I've written.
  4. Meteor scatter by latroM · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Meteor showers used by radio amateurs for meteor scatter. 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.

    1. Re:Meteor scatter by Flying+Purple+Wombat · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

      --
      If God had meant for man to see the sunrise, He would have scheduled it later in the day.
  5. Ham radio gear not required by w9wi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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...