LOOKOUT FOR THE GEMINIDS

  The Geminids Meteor shower December 13th/14th a Date every year, you can see just one possible way "life", arrived on this planet, Meteorites. 
 Those innocent Meteors we see each Year, were
 much larger in the early bombardment, 
When the Earth was being formed. 

The above Image was taken on December 14th 2013, you can see on the top left of the picture, a solo Geminid meteor. 

  An over exposed enlargement of a different meteor, But.............what is the visible line shooting off the Meteor?(almost probably a plane or satellite). 
 
As i write this the rain is coming down, but that rain would not be

here but for Icy Asteroids and Meteors delivering it to the planet, Billions of years ago.

The Iron core of our Earth that gives us Gravity, was delivered to us

from across the Universe, and what's even more remarkable,

the Iron in your Blood (which we cannot live without) originated
 from the Iron within Meteorites!!

So next time your out in the dark ( if you can find any dark? ), look

up, and watch out for those Meteors, and think of our Origin and

our ultimate destiny. 
You can find a dark sky map of the UK here;
 http://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/images/darksky01.jpg 
The Welsh Marches are very dark. As are parts of Scotland. 
In the south there is always North Exmoor.
 
 As i posted HERE in January this year.
this year most of the meteor showers have the Moon out of the way,
so its much easier to see Meteors in the night sky.
you can see the Geminids in the UK, on December 13th into the early hours 
of next day (14th). on the evening of the 13th Meteors should start to
appear after 9:00pm, so not too late, but if you stay up till after midnight
you should see the peek of the shower at around 2:00am. no one can
predict the weather for the 13th and 14th but the Geminids, if the sky's
 are clear will be the best Meteor shower of 2012.
Predictions are for 60 to 70 Meteors per hour at it's peek.
The Geminids Meteors radiate from the constellation of Gemini,
the diagram below is facing North 10;00pm December 13th
 Find Orion the Hunter in the South West, Gemini is above,
you will need to look anywhere else but Gemini, if you
see a Meteor trace it back, if it shot from Gemini,you
have seen a Geminid Meteor, my camera will be set
on Bulb and Iso 400, Manual/Infinity, on a sturdy tripod
with remote release, exposure; my preference is for
9 seconds or less, using a 20 mm lens, any longer and you will get
 the Stars-trailing, unless that's what you want?. All makes of camera
require variants on the above set-up, experiment, and don't forget 
to release the shutter when your satisfied you've
 seen a Meteor in your frame.

The arrows show GEMINIDS

If i manage to capture an Image of the Geminids, I will be sure to 
update this page with a Geminid Image,
watch this space. 
For More on Meteors & Meteorites see here   http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.co.uk/
Wrap up warm, two of everything and Good luck
with the weather. 

Acknowledgements; Thanks to;
http://www.timeanddate.com/     for the count down timer.

METEORS AND IMAGES

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1833 Leonids meteor storm

All things Landscape I maybe, although i do go out into the late night trying to get  illusive image(s) of the annual Meteor showers, the  UK weather and Moon light usually gets in the way.
I well remember my late Fathers interest in the Stars, so one foggy night myself and Brother set out to see the 1999 Leonids Meteor shower;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids  , we made a trip up to Cleobury Mortimer to a view point, the mist all around we saw many meteors through the thin cloud, all colours Blue, Green but mainly  White coloured, and two or three Earth grazers. This trip sold me hook, line and sinker for future meteor showers trips, and the  ambition to photograph them. I had a film camera on that night but sadly it was too misty for any top quality image(s).

Recently I have borrowed a DVD of "The Walton's" series 1 Episode 6 "The Star", I'm not a big fan of TV or the big screen, but.........this Episode is all about a meteor that is seen to fall to earth by the Walton's Grandfather, who sees it as a harbinger of his final fate, but in the end it turns out to be his saviour. If you find time to watch this, be prepared for a sinder in your eyes :-) unless you are a unemotional cold hearted troll ;-) . If you were to find a meteorite that large,  you would have a thing more precious that Silver or Gold.

It's been said we are made of the same materials that our stars are made of,
 well ............those meteors were also made of star material, so whenever i see them fall to earth it gives me a strange Déjà vu ( literally; "already seen" ) experience. No firework display can ever come close to that old as time spectacle a "Meteor shower".

 THIS IS A ADVANCED NOTICE ; Make a date to see a Meteor shower this year and every year. Almost all the different types of Meteor showers display on their respective date(s), give or take a day, so it's easy to plan a trip to see them each year. See the IMO link below for dates on which to view them.
See Here for the Geminids meteor shower. 

The following  was my attempt two years ago to bag a fast moving meteor image for my archive, see here; http://www.amethystlandphoto.co/articles_155008.html   the main peek dates are August 12th; the Perseids and December 13th; the Geminids. On these dates this year is especially free from moon light making for a greater number of meteors to be viewed, so get out there ( dress warm two of everything helps  ;-) ).

I use IMO, a very informative web site, a good source of years of collected and up and coming meteor observing. Go to the bottom of the page ( table 5 ) ; http://www.imo.net/calendar/2012  you only need to look up the " Maximum date" and the "ZHR"  this is the amount of Meteors you might see in one hour!. If you have an ambition to become a Meteor observer, then scroll up ( on the IMO site ) and you will obtain information on each meteor shower throughout 2012.



Tip; press F11 ( top of your keyboard ) for larger monitors for a better viewing experience and you get to see the entrance of Wayland's smithy ( background image ).