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Geminid Meteor Shower Maximum - Dec 13/14th

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Author Topic: Geminid Meteor Shower Maximum - Dec 13/14th  (Read 2032 times)
martinastro
Martin Mc Kenna
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« Reply #15 on: December 14, 2008, 05:23:23 pm »

The 2008 Geminid meteor shower was fantastic!. I did a watch from 00.00 - 07.00 UT from three different locations from a very cold and frosty Maghera. The first half was spent at home and the second from the country. The Moon was one day after full in Gemini near the radiant which was expected to hamper the activity in a big way. It didn't. Every meteor I observed was bright and easy to see, one even appeared within a degree of the Moon itself. It was clear but there was alot of passing cloud and a few light sleet showers in the middle of the night, however there was never a period when I didn't see stars. I ended up observing 99 Geminids which is not bad for a single observer. Had I had company, and with a dark sky, the count would have been much higher. The activity seemed to peak a few hours before dawn. On many occasions I could see two Geminids at the same time one behind the other. These 'chasers' where separated by 20 degrees. One even descended towards the horizon rotating in a crazy corkscrew fashion. I even seen three within two sec's.

The highlight was the fireball activity which was awesome. The first was a mag -6 brilliant diamond with a short tail which burned up in the W. This was followed by a wonderful emerald green fireball in the NW which illuminated the clouds up from behind. The highlight of the night was the best fireball I have seen since the 2006 Leonids. This one appeared in the W, blazed across the zenith for many sec's and burned up in the E. It was absolutely incredible with a stupendous looking deep purple coloured head several times the diameter of the Moon. The tail was over 100 degrees long and was composed of several brilliant white streamers which looked like a great comet. I have no idea of the magnitude however it must have been close to the brightness of the Moon itself. This was an unforgettable sight and made the night worth it. Wow! is the only thing I can.

I was also treated to some rare lunar atmospheric phenomena which I have never seen before in my life. These were bright parry arcs which formed in the sky opposite the Moon and even had watch looked like dogs on the arc. The Moon was in the W but these where in the E! It was a huge structure which must have formed on a rare 46 degree halo or something similar. I have images which I will post at another stage but I need to get them identified first.  I caught six meteors on patrol images. These images here are the best of the bunch. It's not easy at all to catch a good meteor. The Geminids put on a great show so I was glad I made the effort to stay out all night











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« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2008, 06:09:38 pm »

Congratulations on some marvelous meteor captures Martin. Also for the greatly detailed report. The enthusiasm almost jumps off the monitor at you!
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Andy
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« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2008, 06:43:36 pm »

Martin, that is superb work, both the writeup and the images. You had a fantastic night and not before time.

I'm hoping for some clear sky tonight and I'll see if we get some more. I saw one last night - mind you it was pretty good. So we've seen 100 between us Smiley

Clear skies,

Paul.
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« Reply #18 on: December 14, 2008, 07:17:15 pm »

Martin, sounds like you had a fantastic night! the highlight you discribed sounds like an amazing expirence (the 100 degree fireball) I liked your report, very detailed, and made me wish I stayed out longer! anyway fantastic images, and I look forward to hearing about that moon phenomena!

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« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2008, 07:57:13 pm »

Great work getting on spaceweather HP!!!

I was planning on setting up for a timelapse, but my laptop crashed when I got home from work, so I could not set it up...bummer. By January I should have a new laptop to take for doing timelapses and such, and probably switching Tonightssky.org to my personal photo-site. I hope to get a lens this christmas too, but we will see...

this was the second best shower this year, from what I saw, though I was out more for the Persieds, and saw 3 really cool fireballs.

Recap: I saw 7 total, one on the 11th mag -5. two on the 12th and 4 on the 13th. - this was good considering I was only outside for a combined 2 hours on all three days.
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Paul
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« Reply #20 on: December 14, 2008, 08:51:43 pm »

Martin on the SW Front Page, Tyler in the Gallery! Well done guys - you had a good night and have got good credit for your images - great stuff!

Paul.
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martinastro
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« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2008, 09:08:53 pm »

Thanks very much guys for the support!. I'm still recovering from last night's watch. 7 hours in the frost really takes its toll on you but it was worth it. The annoying thing was that a few others fireballs where burning up at the edges of the frame and not in it. If I had of used my superwide angle lens I would have caught that big one. I really want to catch a fireball, that's my goal. Mag -4 is the brightest I have caught yet.

It's clear here at the min but I haven't done a watch. Might try later when the radiant is higher. There's a nice halo around the Moon at the moment. Anybody else see it?

Thanks again all and good luck tonight.  Smiley
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« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2008, 11:28:10 pm »

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It's clear here at the min ..... There's a nice halo around the Moon at the moment. Anybody else see it?
Isn't there a contraction there? If it's clear there won't be a halo....

Where are you getting your clear sky from? Last night here was a total greyout, not one shred of anything that might be remotely called clear. Tonight solid stratocumulus until about half an jour ago, it's now breaking revealing a sky mostly full of thin high cloud. Oddly enough that's what Metcheck has been forecasting all day. Not so the Met Office or BBC who have been forecasting "clear sky". Hmmpphh.
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martinastro
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« Reply #23 on: December 15, 2008, 01:07:18 am »

No, not all, thin strips of cirrostratus surrounded by stars. The sky is clear and the strips do not hamper meteor observations. Great complete halo which just adds to the scene. Good Geminid activity too.

Coastal areas have a high chance of cloud tonight, due to an approaching warm front which was predicted by the BBC and Met Office. Inland areas are to be clear with severe frost.

Clear sky was forecast for Sat but some cloud and showers were expected along inland coastal regions. W & NW coasts had lots of those.

As for Metcheck...they are allowed to get it rite some times  Smiley
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« Reply #24 on: December 15, 2008, 01:30:22 am »

Although Oxford is inland it remains cloudy as I type this - just as it has been for the past couple of days.  Angry

As for Metcheck, I usually feel far more optimistic about the night ahead if they are forecasting cloud!
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Andy
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« Reply #25 on: December 15, 2008, 09:48:44 am »

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As for Metcheck, I usually feel far more optimistic about the night ahead if they are forecasting cloud!
Hmmm. I get very p'd off by forecasts of clear sky when there isn't any. I've been checking up on the BBC forecasts (configured for my location) over the last 3 months & find observable conditions

when they're forecasting clear sky, 30%
when they're forecasting partly cloudy, 40%
when they're forcasting showers, 0%

Last night they had "clear sky" from 6pm to 6am. Not a peep so far as anything useful is concerned. When the stratocumulus overcast finally broke, the sky was filled with high cloud through which the brighter stars of e.g. Cassiopeia were only just visible. The Moon might have been observable except for the horrendously unsteady "jet stream" seeing. No halo phenomena either.

A really, really bad forecast by the BBC, and by no means the only one recently. Met Office showed very little cloud in the area also. Metcheck forecast the stratocumulus overcast ("low cloud") clearing between 9pm and midnight (actual, 10pm) and the increasing high cloud overcast with considerable accuracy.

The best night I've had for ages - Fri/Sat 5/6 Dec - was forecast as "partly cloudy" & "white cloud" on BBC, similar on the Met Office forecast. Metcheck again got it much nearer right forecasting small amounts of low cloud all night.
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« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2008, 11:12:29 am »

Martin & Paul, it seems that you had a great time there with almost a hundred meteors observed.  Smiley
Martin, some of those meteor patrol images are awesome!!  Smiley I can only suppose that it worth to observe during 7 hours on afrosty night, because my skies don't worth even a 10min. walk. Completely overcast here.

Andy, do you have the same smiley, but with snow?  Wink
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« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2008, 04:39:25 pm »


Andy, do you have the same smiley, but with snow?  Wink

I'll see what I can find!  Grin

As for weather forecasts, as someone posted a while back on another of my astronomy forums, to get the best forecast of all, just look out of the window!
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Andy
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« Reply #28 on: December 15, 2008, 04:50:45 pm »

(....)to get the best forecast of all, just look out of the window!
Not 'just to look in the window'. It would be better to have a personal meteostation.  Smiley (I may get the one for Christmas)
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martinastro
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« Reply #29 on: December 15, 2008, 06:03:51 pm »

Thanks very much Roman, sorry to hear about the cloud but there are other showers in the near future which can produce a nice surprise so hopefully you will get it clear then. There's always comet Lulin in feb too  Smiley

I agree Andy, just looking out and up is the best way.

Brian, maybe Metcheck is more accurate for your location by the sound of things. They rarely are from mine though, but I live in a strange place. The Sperrin Mountains seem to effect the weather alot here so who knows. Best thing to do is just check all the forecasts and sat images and just hope for the best. That thick cirrostratus you mentioned arrived here during the early hours of the morning but stars could still be seen. It produced a great halo. The front arrived today exactly as expected.

* Les Cowley got back to me today about those strange lunar parry arcs on dec 13/14th and confirmed their rareity. Apparently they are caused by column-shaped ice cyrstals which are rare here.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2008, 06:05:39 pm by martinastro » Report Spam   Logged



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