In search of the Geminids

Picture was taken by Ed Sweeney in Santa Cruz, California, USA last Dec. 8, 2009

The aching neck was back again last night.

For roughly an hour, as the 14th passed to the 15th day of the month, I again patiently gazed unto the stars in search of what one online website described as one of the best meteor showers of the year “and never seems to disappoint observers.”

And disappointed I was not.

While I was only able to enjoy three Leonid “falling stars” last November, this time I saw no less than 12 Geminids race across the sky! The twelfth was the brightest among those I saw, many of which disappeared at the tip of your peripheral sight before you can really mesmerize over them. Still, 12 is 12! You don’t get to see that much in a night even if you tried to.

The local weather bureau PAG-ASA estimates that around 40 meteors per hour were expected last night during the meteor shower’s peak period.

The meteors actually started becoming visible last Dec. 6 but were often hidden by cloudy skies. The meteor shower is expected to last until Dec.18.

Using an all-sky camera at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, astronomer Bill Cooke recorded a bright Geminid streaking past the Moon last Dec. 9, 2009

The Geminids got their name because they could be seen at the eastern horizon blazing from the constellation of Gemini. They first appeared in the 1860s but scientists have yet to ascertain where they really come from. Observers from Palomar Observatory spotted an asteroid they named 3200 Phaeton moving in an almost similar orbit to the Geminids. Scientists now believe that the Geminids may have originated from this asteroid.

John Chumack captured images of 30 Geminids with his All sky video camera from his backyard observatory in Dayton, Ohio, USA last Dec. 11, 2009

My neck doesn’t hurt anymore and the hunt for the Geminids was well worth it.

I hope the rest of my family will get the chance to see these not so ordinary heavenly bodies the next time they decide to ‘drop in’ and light up the nightly skies.