The Geminids...Oh Boy!!

[Unitron48]

Last night and early this morning, five of us gathered at Morning Calm Observatory (MCO) to enjoy the Geminid Meteor Shower. This is the most robust of the annual meteor showers, and well worth challenging the cold weather. Last year our count was 358 meteors from 2300 hrs until 0430 hrs.

"An asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon is responsible for the Geminid meteor shower. 3200 Phaethon was discovered on images taken by IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) on October 11, 1983, by Simon Green and John Davies. Initially named 1983 TB, it was given an asteroid name, 3200 Phaethon, in 1985. After the orbit was calculated, Fred Whipple announced that this asteroid has the same orbit as the Geminid meteor shower. This was very unusual, since an asteroid had never been associated with a meteor shower. It is still not known how material from the asteroid’s surface, or interior, is released into the meteoroid stream. The Japanese spacecraft DESTINY+ (Demonstration and Experiment of Space Technology for Interplanetary Voyage with Phaethon Flyby and Dust Science) is expected to be launched in 2024 to visit the asteroid in 2028."

We started our viewing at 2300 hrs, and continued until 0400 hrs. Our total count was 503 meteors, or just about 100 meteors per hour! Several were "Jupiter bright", with one extending from Castor to Jupiter. In all my years of meteor viewing, this was my most memorable ever!

Dave

[helicon]

Wow what an incredible haul Dave!

My skies were cloudy, unfortunately. 503 must be near a record for the observation of meteors. Great report, too.

[Bigzmey]

That's fantastic Dave! Great reward for braving the cold. As you say it is trickier to pull a morning session in winter, but after hearing about your success I will make an effort next year.

[jrkirkham]

Thanks for the excellent report. The shower peaks today at 1400 my time. My guess is there will be good viewing tonight also. Last night was clear and fairly warm here in West Central Illinois.

[Unitron48]

That's fantastic Dave! Great reward for braving the cold. As you say it is trickier to pull a morning session in winter, but after hearing about your success I will make an effort next year.

Thanks, Michael, Andrey, Rob!

The temperature hit 20 F by the time we were closing up, but given the frequency of the meteors, it wasn't a distraction.

Dave

[Bigzmey]

That's fantastic Dave! Great reward for braving the cold. As you say it is trickier to pull a morning session in winter, but after hearing about your success I will make an effort next year.

Thanks, Michael, Andrey, Rob!

The temperature hit 20 F by the time we were closing up, but given the frequency of the meteors, it wasn't a distraction.

Dave

As long as show is exciting one can brave the elements. There are also external and internal ways to warm up.

[Thefatkitty]

That's amazing Dave, wow! Good for you and your friends on that; enjoyable read as well. I had clouds...

Edit: I forgot to mention, my vote for VROD for sure!!


All the best,

[messier 111]

nice report , thx.

[Nakedgun]

~

My neighbor and I sat in my back yard from 2100 to 2330 and observed perhaps 50. Best shower of the year.



.

[AntennaGuy]

Just went out this evening, looked up, and promptly saw a really nice meteor / fireball cross over a considerable fraction of the sky. So I saw... one. But it was a good one. My wife came out to look and then the clouds began to come in. She wasn't happy about that.

[kt4hx]

That is really great Dave, an outstanding evening of frigid meteor watching! I will give you folks credit for enduring the cold for that long, but the rewards were an amazing number of meteors - simply WOW! Most assuredly a VROD report.

I honestly had forgotten about the Geminids, and was at the dark site last night (and the night before). I was of course chasing galaxies as is typical. But when my eyes were away from the eyepiece I did notice more meteors than typical in the ENE, and it hit me that it was Geminid night! But by 10PM I had had enough of the cold and hunting galaxies that I called it a night.

However, that is not the end of the story. I woke up sometime after 4AM and decided I would go out for a little bit. So I put on my heavy coat, gloves and ski cap and headed outside with my observing chair. I sat in the driveway facing west since Gemini was over there by then. I managed to stick it out for about half an hour and counted 25 meteors, in and around Gemini and back toward the east when I turned my head a bit. Some were as bright as Jupiter as you mentioned. Plus, I saw one around Corvus that left a slowly fading trail, and another one down around Antlia that I caught in my periphery when it went out in a big flash. So given what I saw during my quick little look, I can well imagine that over the course of those hours with multiple sets of eyes it had to be fantastic! Well done, all of you.

[Mike Q]

I didnt stay up for it, but i did see one around 9:30pm when we were tearing down the Stellina. It must have been good because i had a half dozen texts about it this morning

[helicon]

As nominated Dave, you win today's vrod for your wonderful report and successful evening.

[Unitron48]

As nominated Dave, you win today's vrod for your wonderful report and successful evening.

Thanks, Michael! Always appreciated.

Dave

[Unitron48]

That is really great Dave, an outstanding evening of frigid meteor watching! I will give you folks credit for enduring the cold for that long, but the rewards were an amazing number of meteors - simply WOW! Most assuredly a VROD report.

I honestly had forgotten about the Geminids, and was at the dark site last night (and the night before). I was of course chasing galaxies as is typical. But when my eyes were away from the eyepiece I did notice more meteors than typical in the ENE, and it hit me that it was Geminid night! But by 10PM I had had enough of the cold and hunting galaxies that I called it a night.

However, that is not the end of the story. I woke up sometime after 4AM and decided I would go out for a little bit. So I put on my heavy coat, gloves and ski cap and headed outside with my observing chair. I sat in the driveway facing west since Gemini was over there by then. I managed to stick it out for about half an hour and counted 25 meteors, in and around Gemini and back toward the east when I turned my head a bit. Some were as bright as Jupiter as you mentioned. Plus, I saw one around Corvus that left a slowly fading trail, and another one down around Antlia that I caught in my periphery when it went out in a big flash. So given what I saw during my quick little look, I can well imagine that over the course of those hours with multiple sets of eyes it had to be fantastic! Well done, all of you.

Thanks, Alan! Don't believe I'll ever top this meteor shower! As far as the cold goes, the heated socks my wife got for me several years ago work great!

Dave

[John Baars]

Wow! What a number!
Great!
Clouded here...

[Lady Fraktor]

An amazing count Dave!
Unfortunately we were in the middle of a snow storm...