December 15, 2009

• Meteor Shower

  The most recent shower was the Geminid Shower that peaked on the 14th (wee hours of yesterday).  Named because most of the meteors should have appeared near the Gemini constellation:

  

  I sat outside with my sister, her friend David, and my brother for about half an hour maybe?  My sense of time is pretty bad, so that number is just kind of out there.  We saw approximately 3 meteors (approximately since there were more but we didn't all see the same ones).  It was kind of cool and kind of annoying watching that night since it was cloudy.  However, there were patches of clear sky that would occasionally waft by and during those windows of opportunity (har har) we saw those meteors.  Of course, I made a few wishes .

  I went out for a few minutes last night but didn't see any.  My dad saw a few though, though at an earlier hour. *_* 

  It got me thinking, it's weird to just wait there for something that might not ever show up.  And what if we don't wait enough?

  
  >< (seriously, xkcd is applicable to almost everything)

  But anyways, back to the meteor shower--here's a picture I found on Astronomy Pic of the Day; I pasted the caption just FYI:

  

  Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley
  

  Credit & Copyright:
  Wally Pacholka

  (AstroPics.com, TWAN)

  Explanation:

  The Geminids are expected
  to put on a good show this year.

  Created as planet Earth sweeps through dusty debris from extinct
  comet Phaethon, the annual
  Geminid meteor shower is predicted to peak
  on December 14th, around 0510 UT (12:10am EST).

  With better
  viewing for northern hemisphere observers, pictures
  of Geminids streaking through the night could include
  wintery landscapes, like this snow-tinged image of a 2007
  Geminid meteor over buttes of the
  Monument Valley region
  in the southwestern US.

  The meteor streak points back to the constellation Gemini and
  the shower's radiant point,
  just off the upper left edge of the scene.

  Along with Rigel, the sword and belt
  stars of Orion are at the
  upper right.

  Near the eastern horizon
  are bright stars Procyon (left) and Sirius.

  The two buttes at the far left are known as The Mittens -
  clearly a reminder that if you want to watch a meteor shower on a cold
  December night, wearing mittens would be a good idea.

  [Copied straight from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091212.html]

  So as much as I have not liked Facebook in the past, I am finding it to be very useful.  Now, I don't have to look up meteor shower dates, I just need to watch my feed:

  
  *~  

  • 11:44 am
  • 27 Comments