Geminid meteor shower on the way
STAY tuned for nature's coming attraction.
Early next week, the Geminid meteor shower will make its annual appearance, just in time for Christmas.
Astronomers consider it the best meteor shower of the year, with more than 100 meteors streaking through the night sky every hour.
The peak of the meteor shower will occur early on Tuesday in the US, between midnight and sunrise local time.
The show will be best in the Northern Hemisphere, easily visible with the naked eye.
The Geminids are actually rocky celestial leftovers. Every December, Earth passes through this stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon, once believed to be an asteroid and now considered an extinct - or iceless - comet.
The meteors, or shooting stars, can appear anywhere, but always seem to fall from the Gemini constellation, thus their name.
Meteors occur when bits of particles enter the atmosphere and burn up, resembling incoming fireballs.
Actually, some meteors should be visible in the night sky from December 12 to 16, as long as the sky is clear, according to NASA.
And consider it a warm-up for the total lunar eclipse coming the night of December 20 and wee hours of December 21, depending on your time zone.
It will be the only full lunar eclipse of the year and the entire event will be visible in North America, Central America, a bit of South America, Greenland and Iceland.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/ge ... z17rrf7YSb
Heads up, stargazers. Geminids on their way...
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FBM
- Ratz' first Gritizen.
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Heads up, stargazers. Geminids on their way...
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/ge ... 5969386705
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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maiforpeace
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Re: Heads up, stargazers. Geminids on their way...
Has it already started? My husband gets up at ungodly hours of the morning to ride his bike, and starts by warming up in the hot tub. He tried to wake me up last night when he saw several shooting stars while sitting in the tub.
I'll try not to sleep through it the next time he tries to wake me up.
I'll try not to sleep through it the next time he tries to wake me up.
Atheists have always argued that this world is all that we have, and that our duty is to one another to make the very most and best of it. ~Christopher Hitchens~
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FBM
- Ratz' first Gritizen.
- Posts: 45327
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:43 pm
- About me: Skeptic. "Because it does not contend
It is therefore beyond reproach" - Contact:
Re: Heads up, stargazers. Geminids on their way...
It's just getting started. That means I'll be outside with my camera for the next few nights. 
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."
"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
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