The annual Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight, Dec. 13-14, as Earth passes through a stream of gravelly debris from "rock comet" 3200 Phaethon

by Dr. Tony Phillips.

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER--TONIGHT!

The annual Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight, Dec. 13-14, as Earth passes through a stream of gravelly debris from "rock comet" 3200 Phaethon. Dark-sky observers in both hemispheres could see as many as 120 meteors per hour during the dark hours between midnight and sunrise on Dec. 14th. Last night, Dec. 12-13, NASA's all-sky meteor network detected 15 Geminid fireballs over the USA. That number will surely grow on peak night--tonight! Got clouds? Listen for Geminid echoes in the audio feed from our live meteor radar.



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Geminids meteor shower prediction: Moonless and marvelous

 

 

By Alan MacRobert

Updated 3:12 PM ET, Sat December 12, 2015

Story highlights

• Geminids meteor shower is peaking
• Geminid meteors can flash into view anywhere in the night sky

(Sky and Telescope)The nights of December 13-14 offer dark skies for a popular, underappreciated meteor display.

The Geminid meteor shower competes with August's Perseids for showiness — yet it's not nearly as well-known. The Geminids are easier on your sleep schedule, too. Their radiant (near Castor in Gemini) climbs as high by 11 p.m. standard time (45 degrees above the local horizon) as the Perseid radiant does by 2 a.m. daylight time on the peak Perseid nights. The higher the radiant, the more meteors you'll see.

 

 

The Geminid meteors can flash into view anywhere in the late-night sky when the shower peaks in mid-December. But if you follow their paths back far enough, they all appear to diverge from a point in the constellation Gemini.

 

The International Meteor Organization (IMO) predicts that the Geminids should reach an impressive zenithal hourly rate of 120 this year. (ZHR is how many meteors you'd see see per hour in a very dark sky if the radiant were at the zenith. This year the peak should be centered on roughly 18h Universal Time on December 14. Unfortunately, that's 1 p.m. EST and 10 a.m. PST. So in North America the shower's performance is likely to be similar on the nights of December 13-14 and 14-15.

This week's sky at a glance

 

As the IMO notes, "Near-peak Geminid rates persist for almost a day, so much of the world has a chance to enjoy something of the shower's best." In addition, "mass-sorting within the stream means fainter telescopic meteors should be most abundant almost a day ahead of the visual maximum," and the meteors after maximum are typically brighter than average.

The moon will be a waxing crescent a few days old, no trouble at all.

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It Rains Fireballs - Earth is Passing Through a Stream of Debris from Comet Encke

nemesis maturity

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Published on Nov 5, 2015

Exploding fireballs reported all over the globe. It rains fireballs.
http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot...

Earth is passing through a stream of gravelly debris from Comet Encke, source of the annual Taurid meteor shower. Meteoroids the size of pebbles, and larger, are disintegrating as they hit our planet's atmosphere at 30 up to 90 km/s.

Earth runs unto the debris zone of Comet Encke every year around this time. Usually, the encounter produces a minor meteor shower, but 2015 is different. The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) is seeing stronger Taurid activity than any of the last few years.

Bright fireballs are coming from a "swarm" of gravelly meteoroids that weaves in and out of Comet Encke's dusty debris zone. In some years, Earth hits the swarm; in other years it misses.
2015 appears to be a hit.
http://spaceweather.com/

File Meteor Report here: http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot...

Clips credit: NASA

Music credit: YouTube Audio Library
Cry - Vibe Tracks

Near Earth Objects - Tuesday, October 14th, 2015

by Dr. Tony Phillips.

All Sky Fireball Network

 

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Oct. 14, 2015, the network reported 37 fireballs.

(29 sporadics, 5 Southern Taurids, 1 epsilon Geminid, 1 Orionid, 1 lambda Draconid)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

Near Earth Asteroids

 

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.


On October 15, 2015 there were 1623 potentially hazardous asteroids.Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Size
2015 TN21	Oct 10	2.3 LD	17 m
2015 TB25	Oct 11	9.5 LD	55 m
2015 TK21	Oct 12	4.8 LD	24 m
2015 TG24	Oct 12	4 LD	19 m
2015 TC25	Oct 13	0.3 LD	5 m
2015 TC179	Oct 14	12.3 LD	25 m
2015 TG144	Oct 16	13.3 LD	32 m
2011 QD48	Oct 17	67.5 LD	1.0 km
2014 UR	Oct 18	3.8 LD	21 m
2011 SE97	Oct 18	11.9 LD	50 m
2015 TD144	Oct 20	11.7 LD	131 m
2001 UY4	Oct 21	58.2 LD	1.0 km
2015 TZ143	Oct 22	4.2 LD	24 m
2015 TB145	Oct 31	1.3 LD	455 m
2015 TD179	Nov 4	10.6 LD	52 m
2005 UL5	Nov 20	5.9 LD	390 m
2003 EB50	Nov 29	48.8 LD	2.2 km
2007 BG29	Dec 1	54.1 LD	1.1 km
1998 WT24	Dec 11	10.9 LD	1.1 km

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

All Sky Fireball Network - May 20th, 2014

 Space Weather
by Dr. Tony Phillips.

All Sky Fireball Network

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On May. 20, 2014, the network reported 8 fireballs.
(8 sporadics)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

Near Earth Asteroids

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On May 21, 2014 there were 1475 potentially hazardous asteroids.

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Size
2010 JO33	May 17	4 LD	43 m
2014 KD	May 19	7.7 LD	57 m
2014 KD2	May 20	5.2 LD	41 m
2005 UK1	May 20	36.7 LD	1.1 km
1997 WS22	May 21	47.1 LD	1.5 km
2002 JC	May 24	48.7 LD	1.4 km
2014 HQ124	Jun 8	3.3 LD	620 m
2011 PU1	Jul 18	7.6 LD	43 m

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Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.
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• All Sky Fireball Network - May 13, 2014
• All Sky Fireball Network April 26th, 2014
• Asteroid 201AA Has impacted Earth just hours after it's initial Discovery

All Sky Fireball Network - May 13, 2014

Space Weather

by Dr. Tony Phillips.

All Sky Fireball Network

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On May. 11, 2014, the network reported 9 fireballs.
(7 sporadics, 2 eta Aquariids)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

Near Earth Asteroids
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On May 14, 2014 there were 1473 potentially hazardous asteroids.

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Size
2014 HT178	May 8	5.9 LD	21 m
2014 JD	May 9	7.7 LD	24 m
2014 JG55	May 10	0.3 LD	7 m
2014 JW55	May 13	4.3 LD	23 m
2014 JH15	May 17	8 LD	59 m
2010 JO33	May 17	4 LD	43 m
2005 UK1	May 20	36.7 LD	1.1 km
1997 WS22	May 21	47.1 LD	1.5 km
2002 JC	May 24	48.7 LD	1.4 km
2014 HQ124	Jun 8	3.2 LD	615 m

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

Related articles

• All Sky Fireball Network April 26th, 2014
• Bus-Size Asteroid Buzzes Earth, Comes Closer Than the Moon
• Experts confirm fireball over Toronto, eastern Ontario was meteor

Last night, NASA's network of all-sky meteor cameras reported 23 Geminid fireballs over the United States.

Spaceweather.com

by Dr. Tony Phillips.

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER--IT'S UNDERWAY:

  This sharp uptick in activity signals the official beginning of the 2013 Geminid meteor shower. For the next 3 to 4 days, Earth will pass through a stream of debris from rock comet 3200 Phaethon, producing dozens of meteors per hour flying out of the contellation Gemini. "There is a nice show going on right now," says Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.

The multiple cameras of NASA's fireball network are able to measure the orbits of Geminid meteoroids. This plot shows the orbits of the 39 fireballs recorded so far this week:

Earth is the blue dot where all the orbits intersect. The purple curve shows the path of Geminid parent 3200 Phaethon.

Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Dec. 13-14 when Earth passes through the busiest part of Phaethon's debris stream. Peak rates could reach 120 meteors per hour. However, glare from the nearly-full Moon could reduce the number of visible meteors 2- to 3-fold. Cooke advises looking during the hours just before local sunrise on Saturday, Dec. 14th. "At that time, the Moon will be below the horizon, improving your chances of seeing the show."

You can listen to radar echoes from the Geminids, unaffected by moonlight, on Space Weather Radio. Also, tune into NASA's live web chat about the Geminids on Friday the 13th beginning at 11 pm EST.
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• CBSNews.com

Geminid meteor shower will light up Friday night sky

 Geminid meteor photographed over Steamboat Springs, Colo., on Dec. 12, 2010 Jimmy Westlak
More than 100 meteors will rocket across the sky on the night of Dec. 13 and early morning hours of the 14th. Visible from almost any point on Earth, it’s the peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower.
The most intense meteor shower of the year, the Geminid features between 100 and 120 meteors per hour at its peak, traveling about 78,000 miles per hour. The full shower lasts from Dec. 12-16.
"The Geminids are my favorite because they defy explanation," said Bill Cooke, lead for NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, in a press release. "Of all the debris streams Earth passes through every year, the Geminids are by far the most massive. When we add up the amount of dust in the Geminid stream, it outweighs other streams by factors of 5 to 500."
While most meteor showers are a collection of meteorids spewed from comets, the Geminid meteor shower features fragments and dusty debris of a “weird rocky object named 3200 Phaethon,” according to NASA.


Read More Here
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Geminids Tonight/Ison off Course.

BPEarthWatch


   

Published on Dec 10, 2013

lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
http://www.meteorwatch.org/meteor-map...
http://spaceweatherradio.com/
http://brucegary.net/ISON/#Observatio...

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Ison Slices thru Lovejoys Tail.

BPEarthWatch

Published on Dec 9, 2013

Lovejoy's Tail suffers a disconnect.

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Geminid meteor shower set to peak, but moon might curtail viewing

Joe Rao Space.com

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Dec. 9, 2013 at 6:26 PM ET

SkyandTelescope.com

This chart shows the radiant point for the Geminid meteor shower.

This week marks the peak of what is usually considered the most satisfying of all annual meteor displays: the Geminid meteor shower.
As was the case with last month’s Leonid meteor shower, however, prospective skywatchers should be aware that once again, observers will face a major obstacle in their attempt to see this year’s Geminid performance, namely, the moon.
Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the moon will turn full on Dec. 17, and as such, will seriously hamper viewing the peak of the Geminids, predicted to occur in the overnight hours of this Friday to Saturday. Bright moonlight will flood the sky through much of that night, playing havoc with any serious attempts to observe the usually spectacular meteor shower. [See amazing photos of the 2012 Geminid meteor shower]
The Geminids are already around, having been active only in a very weak and scattered form since about Dec. 7. Geminid activity is expected to be on an upswing in the nights to come, leading up to their peak on Friday night.
Historically, this shower has a reputation for being rich both in slow, bright, meteors as well as rather faint meteors, with relatively few of medium brightness. Many Geminid meteor shower streaks appear yellowish in hue. Every once in a while, a Geminid fireball will blaze forth, bright enough to be quite spectacular and more than capable of attracting attention even in bright moonlight.
"If you have not yet seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor," astronomers David Levy and Stephen Edberg wrote in their book, "Observe Meteors," published by the Astronomical League.
Dark sky opportunities
The best times to look for streaking Geminids this year will be during the predawn hours several mornings before the night of full moon when the constellation Gemini will be standing high in the northwest sky. 

Joe Rao / Space.com

l times in this chart are a.m. and are local standard times. “MS” is the time of moonset. “Dawn” is the time when morning (astronomical) twilight begins. “Win” is the available window of dark sky composed of the number of minutes between the time of moonset and the start of twilight.

In fact, three “windows” of dark skies will be available between moonset and the first light of dawn on the mornings of Dec. 13, 14 and 15. Generally speaking, there will be about two hours of completely dark skies available on the morning of Dec. 13. This window shrinks to only about an hour on the 14th, and to less than 10 minutes by the morning of the 15th.

Read More Here

 

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