Look up, or you'll miss it!
Two astronomical events coming up:
Meteor showers (two) :
The Geminids - Best early in the evenings of 13th and 14th December (providing it isn't cloudy...again!). This is a chance to watch a lot of 'shooting stars', or meteors (they are not called meteorites until they touch the Earth's surface).
You can use the Plough (Big Dipper) to help you find Gemini:
...and the Geminid meteor shower centre (called the radiant - they don't all come at once, but if you take pictures of all the ones that come, and overlay them they would appear to be coming from one area of sky:
Most meteorite showers are caused by the Earth passing through pockets of dust left behind by comets as it travels round the sun, but the Geminids are unusual in that they are thought to be debris left from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon (pronounced fay -e-thon).
Apparently the meteors are multi-coloured (I have yet to see this!) and are supposedly white, yellow, blue, red and even green... let me know in the comments if you see the colours?
(The Ursids 17th - 25th, with a maximum on 22nd December. Unfortunately, the brightness of the moon will make them hard to see)
Lunar eclipse:
21st December (See Wikipedia for more details and some good pics!)- you'll have to be up early to catch it though...the first gentle shadowing begins at 5.29am GMT (Greenwich Mean Time /London time), as the Earth begins to block out some of the sun's rays.
But that's not the dramatic bit we think of a lunar eclipse. The Earth's shadow covers the whole of the Moon at about 7.40am:
Though it will look dark, take a closer look. Will you see the reddish tinge? This is caused by the longer light waves, from the sun, being refracted by the Earth's atmosphere:
Unfortunately, the moon will be sinking below the horizon quite quickly, so the haze of the atmosphere might make it more difficult to see the red-brown colours. It may be that binoculars would be a good idea, if you have any. And since the moon will set half way through the eclipse about 8.15am (in Wadhurst area), we won't see it become light again. (If you miss this one, then the next one will be next June (2011), though this one promises to be just as low in the sky)
Meteor showers (two) :
The Geminids - Best early in the evenings of 13th and 14th December (providing it isn't cloudy...again!). This is a chance to watch a lot of 'shooting stars', or meteors (they are not called meteorites until they touch the Earth's surface).
You can use the Plough (Big Dipper) to help you find Gemini:
...and the Geminid meteor shower centre (called the radiant - they don't all come at once, but if you take pictures of all the ones that come, and overlay them they would appear to be coming from one area of sky:
Most meteorite showers are caused by the Earth passing through pockets of dust left behind by comets as it travels round the sun, but the Geminids are unusual in that they are thought to be debris left from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon (pronounced fay -e-thon).
Apparently the meteors are multi-coloured (I have yet to see this!) and are supposedly white, yellow, blue, red and even green... let me know in the comments if you see the colours?
(The Ursids 17th - 25th, with a maximum on 22nd December. Unfortunately, the brightness of the moon will make them hard to see)
Lunar eclipse:
21st December (See Wikipedia for more details and some good pics!)- you'll have to be up early to catch it though...the first gentle shadowing begins at 5.29am GMT (Greenwich Mean Time /London time), as the Earth begins to block out some of the sun's rays.
But that's not the dramatic bit we think of a lunar eclipse. The Earth's shadow covers the whole of the Moon at about 7.40am:
Though it will look dark, take a closer look. Will you see the reddish tinge? This is caused by the longer light waves, from the sun, being refracted by the Earth's atmosphere:
Unfortunately, the moon will be sinking below the horizon quite quickly, so the haze of the atmosphere might make it more difficult to see the red-brown colours. It may be that binoculars would be a good idea, if you have any. And since the moon will set half way through the eclipse about 8.15am (in Wadhurst area), we won't see it become light again. (If you miss this one, then the next one will be next June (2011), though this one promises to be just as low in the sky)
Labels: eclipse, geminids, meteor, meteor shower, moon, Ursids
posted by Unknown at
3:50 pm
All 3 Comments left by stargazers will disappear into a black hole unless read!
Ophiuchus
Mr Meteor
