lots of vids of the shower on youtube...
one of the best for visuals, footage from Japan

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU9RfvrWwHM

Fantastic Geminids Fireshow!

Clear & Crispy...

Woke up at 5am to pop out & watch the fire show... to find that Jack Frost had definitely visited during those few hours of sleep. The windows of the car had frozen, so I decided to watch from the garden instead of the beach.

Wow, what a show.... over 30 in 15 minutes... not around Gemini at all, some way over on the other side of the sky. Saw 2 streak across the sky in a slow burn, never seen 2 together before.

Very clear night, perfect viewing, just very cold. Some results describe 140 shooting stars in the hour's peak, other 100... bright, coloured, slow streaks... definitely worth the wee hours wake up call.

Moment of the new moon tonight just after midnight in Scorpio... great stargazing at new moon... Going to head to the beach & light a bonfire, maybe even have a midnight feast of toasted twisted stick bannock bread. Good night & keep skywatching!

Shootings stars coming soon to a galaxy near you

Geminids Meteor Shower... tonight! in the wee hours... estimated peak time 5:10am! set your alarms for a once a year light show!

Best show of the year, averaging at a meteor a minute at the peak BUT 300 per hour have been reporting.. it looks like this show is getting better & better each year...

Mostly originating around the constellation of gemini (next to Orion), but keep your eyes peeled, because last night they were on the other side of the sky!

The geminids are from the leftover debris from the dead comet Phaethon 3200

It took me ages to grasp the notion of why they are only viewable at certain times of the year... I finally thought in terms of the monopoly board... As the folk sitting round the table, playing the game, we can see the whole board, but if I were really sitting in the car, or the boot or the steamliner travelling around the board, the different locations on the board would be seen in much more detail as I arrive at each one. So my path around the board is similar to the earth's orbit, at certain times of the year I can see into the windows of the houses on park avenue other times I can see through the bars of the jail, or the skyline has the jutting forms of the gasworks. Which is why at different times of year we can see the left over debris of comets - shooting through the night's sky - the earth is the player's piece, the universe is the board & the Geminid Shower is definitely the definitely the dark blue part of the board - best show

But it's cold! So if you don't have a warm room facing roughly towards Gemini, I've found that cars with sun (or star) rooves are brillinat. Music, heat glass & good viewing.... (oh & bring a flask of something heating)

ENJOY!

Finding Gemini....

Find Orion - 3 stars in a row, follow the track through the furthest star on the right of the 3some, up through Betelguese on to the 2 bright stars of Gemini (Castor & Pollux... aka as Bastard & Bollux - crude but memorable)

Tonight when you find the Gemini constellation, while you wait for the light show to begin, trace from Castor to Regulus in Leo - between them is the red planet Mars, if you carry on from regulus down to Spica in Virgo, between them is Saturn, One big line... happy starhopping.

Frying Pan or Bear?

The pan / big dipper is easy to make out, but the bear?

The bear shape includes a few more stars...

But the constellation art helps with the visualization...





Take a peek & see if you can make out a bear, a plough or a pan....
which stars look the brightest?

Ursa major

Of course a drawing of a constellation is very different to the real thing, so here's a picture of the constellation with no lines & indicators...

Star Hopping from the Big Dipper

The big dipper is one of the first constellations that we learn to locate. We can use this constellation as an anchor to identify many other constellations & interesting deep space objects.

The handle of the dipper is also thought of as the tail of the bear. The pan istelf is thought of as the body of the bear. We can find the Polaris / "North" Star by star hopping from the Big Dipper (aka the plough, the frying pan & the great bear, Ursa Major).

By using the shape of the constellation you can also track a path to gemini, leo, virgo, hercules & bootes, although there will be times when these constellations will not be visible, to keep peeking!