There was no chance for me to see any Geminid meteor shower first hand. This morning I went searching around for some online reports, and for those areas that had clear skies, the viewing was good. Observers were reporting seeing up to 50 meteors per hour according to Spaceweather.com's site.
Speaking of SpaceWeather.com, they have a cool meteor radar that you can use to listen for incoming meteorites. I had a listen this morning, and certainly was hearing about 50 or so pings per hour. It works by listening for far away signals from television and radio stations that may be reflected back down to earth from the ionized trail left by meteors. Ham radio operators use this method quite often on the 6M ham (~50-54MHz) band to get more distance out of their contacts.
Skies are expected to clear tonight over West Virginia on Sunday evening, so I may be able to get out and view some Geminids tonight.
Skies are expected to clear tonight over West Virginia on Sunday evening, so I may be able to get out and view some Geminids tonight.
3 comments:
Sunday 11pm
At 10pm I saw one meteor. But now at 11pm the fog has rolled in and that is pretty much it. Because bad fog is predicted for morning. I hate North Florida. But a friend with usually good viewing skies in Arizona is having poor viewing also.
I am seeing about one per minute and they seem to be mostly short white streaks. Not quite as dramatic as Leonids or Perseids but nice to see. I will probably pull out a lawn chair and lay back and nap with one eye open while waiting for a burst.
Yeah, just listening to the pings, knowing if I drive a few miles up Eklutna I bet there'd be a clear spot...
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