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.
