EarthSky

Where do you look to see December’s famous Geminid meteor shower? Simply look in an open sky, in no particular direction. That’s because these meteors fly in many different directions and in front of numerous age-old constellations. But meteor showers do have radiant points. That is, if you trace the paths of the Geminid meteors backward, they all appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Gemini the Twins. Do you need to find Gemini to watch the shower? No, but it’s fun to spot the radiant point in the night sky. Follow the links below to learn more about the Geminid shower, and its radiant point.

Is this for us southern hemisphere folks too?

Yes.

so tonight is the best night to get a look.. somewhere about 2am.. I’ll meet you back here then.

if you find orion then gemini is right next door. to the east and towards the horizon. should be visible from 10 onwards in WA. but you should be able to see them coming up over the NE horizon before that. maybe.

I’ve got up to look for meteors before – occasionally I’ve seen something.

i usually go outside to relieve myself. always have a look up to see what’s happening.

3 geminids, two quite bright and one not so. 2 polar orbiting satellites. Jupiter. around 3:30AM. moon was a bit bright for good viewing, apart from that a clear sky .

Boris said:

3 geminids, two quite bright and one not so. 2 polar orbiting satellites. Jupiter. around 3:30AM. moon was a bit bright for good viewing, apart from that a clear sky .

I saw nothing.. I think we have too much light pollution.

Nup, too cloudy here last night. Plus I was too busy watching Sharknado 2, which is every bit as awesome as the first one.

i reckon you’d still see the bright ones. would have to be pretty bad light pollution.

Too cloudy here also.

yeah well someone told me 10.30 and then 2 am… now I find all the action happened after I went to bed (not untypical :P)

I forgot to look. And I was up at 12.30am too. But not for long.

buffy said:

I forgot to look. And I was up at 12.30am too. But not for long.

I was out there for 20 minutes and didn’t see a single one. Mind you there was a big raft of clouds drifting over much of the northern sky.

There’s another opportunity tonight … with Dr. Tanya Hill, an astronomer at the Melbourne Planetarium saying “some shooting stars may have been visible on Saturday but the peak of the shower was expected to occur on Sunday night.

“Where you want to be looking is towards the north-east. We’re looking for the constellation of Gemini or the Twins which is marked by two bright starts known as Pollux and Castor,” she said.

“Now if you’re further north, in Brisbane for instance, those stars will rise about 9:00pm. That’s when you can start to go out and see if you can catch any of these meteor showers.

“As we head further south places like Melbourne will see those stars appear about 11:00pm in the evening or Hobart it’s about 11:20pm.

“The other thing though is that a couple of hours later around midnight local time, wherever you are in the country, or 1:00am for summer time, the moon will actually rise and that will drown out some of the fainter meteors.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-13/geminids-asteroidal-meteor-shower-confirmed/5965486

I went out for about half an hour. I saw two quite large meteorites, but one came from the wrong direction for it to be a Geminids. It traversed the sky from SW to NE

pommiejohn said:

I went out for about half an hour. I saw two quite large meteorites, but one came from the wrong direction for it to be a Geminids. It traversed the sky from SW to NE

That’s a triffid

That was a poor excuse for a meteor shower….

First one I saw was fantastic, went half the length of the sky and was bright orange……. and that’s about it.

Couple of really short ones after that and that was it. Maybe only 7 or 8 from 11:00pm til about 12:30am. Just gave up and went home.

In 25 minutes last night (from 1:25) I saw 5 (4 faint, one quite bright). Plus a faint satellite trundling directly overhead, north to south-west.

Bubblecar said:

In 25 minutes last night (from 1:25) I saw 5 (4 faint, one quite bright). Plus a faint satellite trundling directly overhead, north to south-west.

Looked on & off during the night. Didn’t see one. :(

JTQ said:

That was a poor excuse for a meteor shower….

First one I saw was fantastic, went half the length of the sky and was bright orange……. and that’s about it.

Couple of really short ones after that and that was it. Maybe only 7 or 8 from 11:00pm til about 12:30am. Just gave up and went home.

You did well. I was watching from sunset on up to almost 2 am. saw a grand total of eight.

total cloud cover last night. rained this morn.

yep, will depend on whether we’re going through a thick patch this orbit or a thin patch.

Tamb said:

Bubblecar said:

In 25 minutes last night (from 1:25) I saw 5 (4 faint, one quite bright). Plus a faint satellite trundling directly overhead, north to south-west.

Looked on & off during the night. Didn’t see one. :(

A quick glance won’t bring them out, they can sense apathy.

Bubblecar said:

Tamb said:

Bubblecar said:

In 25 minutes last night (from 1:25) I saw 5 (4 faint, one quite bright). Plus a faint satellite trundling directly overhead, north to south-west.

Looked on & off during the night. Didn’t see one. :(

A quick glance won’t bring them out, they can sense apathy.

The on & off was about ½ hour at a time. Maybe 17° S is too close to the equator.

Tamb said:

The on & off was about ½ hour at a time. Maybe 17° S is too close to the equator.

Ah, better luck next time.

Tamb said:

Bubblecar said:

Tamb said:

Looked on & off during the night. Didn’t see one. :(

A quick glance won’t bring them out, they can sense apathy.

The on & off was about ½ hour at a time. Maybe 17° S is too close to the equator.

I’m currently at 28° S. Was previously at 34° S. Makes quite a difference to the big sky.

can you see orion, tamb? i am presuming you can and if so then gemini is to the east and towards the horizon so you will still see the meteors. also they don’t all start from the radiant.

Boris said:

can you see orion, tamb? i am presuming you can and if so then gemini is to the east and towards the horizon so you will still see the meteors. also they don’t all start from the radiant.

A couple climbed right overhead this end.

Boris said:

can you see orion, tamb? i am presuming you can and if so then gemini is to the east and towards the horizon so you will still see the meteors. also they don’t all start from the radiant.

Thanks Boris. The Eastern horizon is the difficult direction for me. The hills there stop viewing but also stop the worst effects of cyclones so I suppose it’s a small price to pay.

I remembered last night. I had a look around 12.30….I saw one go. Waited another 4 or 5 minutes and went back to bed….

Couldn’t be arsed… Had maybe 2-3 octas of cloud cover

It was magnificently clear here. The Milky Way was fabulous. Then when I woke this morning a bit before 6.00am (5.00am to you) there was cloud cover.