APOD: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

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Expand view Topic review: APOD: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by Chris Peterson » Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:55 pm

Los Gatos Dentist wrote:I've been having horrible luck lately. Haven't seen a meteor in a LONG time. Kind of makes me want to give up and stop going out to see them, but hey, quitters never make it anywhere.[/url]
Although sporadic activity is highest right now, total meteor activity is at its annual low. Observing in winter and spring requires a lot of patience.

Here's my own data on meteor activity. This is from an allsky camera, which explains the low counts. Figure that with your eye you might see about ten times more. Even so, that's not many at this time of year.

Image

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by JohnD » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:05 pm

Fed up.

Went out late on the 13th. Sky clear. In half an hour I got very cold and saw NO meteors.
Yesterday and today, here among those greeen and pleasant hills, once again it's raining.
I haven't seen a meteor for bl**dy years

John

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by kovil » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:52 am

In looking out my window Sunday night Dec 13, a really large meteor streaked by, a minute later another !
Watching for 5 minutes prompted me to suspect we were having a meteor shower, and Dec 13 rang a bell, for which shower I didn't know.
So it was the Geminids ! Thanks APOD !
What was unusual to me was that each was big, bright and not long lived for angular distance traversed, compared to other meteor showers.
They were only a minute or two between big ones, and sometimes sooner, which is also unlike any meteor showers I've ever watched.
Of course I didn't see the entire sky as it was too cold to go outdoors for more than a few minutes, but here in Northern Nevada there's almost zero human lights and I can see the MIlky Way brightly every night when there's no clouds or moonlight.

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by Chris Peterson » Mon Dec 14, 2009 10:25 pm

neufer wrote:You say that you have removed:
  • 33 Puppid-Velids,
    46 Monocerotids,
    12 Chi Orionids,
    53 Sigma Hydrids, and
    78 sporadics.
Did you do that by hand or was it a computer program?
It's mainly automated. I wrote a program that compares individual meteors against all the active radiants, and then identifies shower components. So I can sort by shower once that filter has been applied.

Determining radiant with a single meteor is an interesting problem. You can't do it, because there are many possible radiants. So I just consider radiants for showers active on the date of the meteor, and look if the endpoints of the meteor and any of those radiants are close to being collinear. If so, I assume the radiant is identified. There's a chance for getting this wrong, especially for meteors that are close to the horizon, where lens distortion is worse, or for very short trails, especially if they are far from the assumed radiant. So a few of those that I identified as something other than Geminids probably should have been included. But I think I got most of them identified correctly.

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by neufer » Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:24 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:The Geminids did indeed put on a good performance this year. From Colorado I recorded 232 on the peak morning of December 14, and 419 over four nights. I've got more information and a bunch of fireball videos posted on the complete report at my website.
I'm very impressed, Chris :!:

You say that you have removed:
  • 33 Puppid-Velids,
    46 Monocerotids,
    12 Chi Orionids,
    53 Sigma Hydrids, and
    78 sporadics.
Did you do that by hand or was it a computer program?

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by Chris Peterson » Mon Dec 14, 2009 5:37 pm

The Geminids did indeed put on a good performance this year. From Colorado I recorded 232 on the peak morning of December 14, and 419 over four nights. Here's what that many meteors looks like:

Image

I've got more information and a bunch of fireball videos posted on the complete report at my website.

Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by geckzilla » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Now I just need to sabotage the NYC power grid for a couple of hours tomorrow night and figure out how to haul a lawn chair up to the roof of this house.

Intense Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

by neufer » Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:49 pm

-----------------------------------------------
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091213-geminids-geminid-meteor-shower-tonight.html wrote:
Intense Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight
Andrew Fazekas for National Geographic News
December 13, 2009

<<Late tonight is the peak of the year's most prolific annual cosmic fireworks show—the Geminid meteor shower. The meteor shower has been growing in intensity in recent decades and should be an even better holiday treat than usual this year, since it's falling in a nearly moonless week.

Coming fast on the heels of its more famous cousin the Leonid meteor shower—which peaked less than a month ago—the Geminid show should feature as many as 140 shooting stars per hour between Sunday evening and Monday morning. The Geminids are slow meteors that create beautiful long arcs across the sky—many lasting a second or two. Favoring observers in the Northern Hemisphere, the Geminids are expected to be most frequent within two hours of 1:10 a.m. ET in the wee hours of Monday.

The shower's radiant—the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate—is the constellation Gemini, which rises above the eastern horizon after 9 p.m. local time. Astronomers recommend observers head outside between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. local time. As with any meteor shower, the Geminids will be muted in light-polluted cities, but even suburban sky-watchers may catch as many as 60 meteors per hour during peak time.

The Geminids have been historically overlooked, simply because of their timing so close to the busy holiday season and during frigid winter nights, astronomers say. But that's beginning to change, thanks to the Geminids' rising intensity over the past few decades. In fact, for many astronomers, the December meteors have now dethroned the more popular August Perseid meteor shower as the shooting star event of the year.

"It may come as a surprise to many, but the Geminids are currently richer and are brighter on average," said Anthony Cook, astronomy observer at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.

Why the sudden illumination? Earth is plowing deeper every year into an ancient stream of rocky debris left behind by a mysterious 3.1-mile-wide (5-kilometer-wide) object that orbits the inner solar system, he said. When Earth's atmosphere crosses paths with that debris cloud, the rocks are superheated and burn out—and new Geminids are born.

The Geminid meteors all appear to be chips off a mysterious rocky object called 3200 Phaethon.

Other meteor showers come from material shed by melting comets—which are massive chunks of dirty ice and rock—as they pass close to the sun. But no one knows for sure whether the Geminids' parent object, first identified in 1983, is an asteroid or the core of an ancient comet that simply sputtered out. Recent observations of Phaethon, though, suggest it's a nearly dormant comet, and the Geminids' parent is now officially classified as such by NASA.

The research revealed that Phaethon is the rocky skeleton of a comet that lost its ice after too many close encounters with the sun, according to NASA. The shooting stars' rocky, hard exterior—as well as the fact that they, unprotected by ice, get baked by the sun—may help explain why Geminids are slower and last longer in the sky than other shooting stars, said Peter Brown, a meteor expert at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

"They have the ability to penetrate deeper into Earth's atmosphere," Brown said, "and burn up at much lower altitudes than meteors associated with the Perseids and Leonids." >>
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3200_Phaethon wrote:
<<3200 Phaethon (pronounced FAY-ə-thon, sometimes incorrectly spelled Phaeton) is an Apollo asteroid and an extinct comet.

Simon F. Green and John K. Davies, while searching Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data for moving objects, discovered 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) in images from October 11, 1983. It was announced on October 14 in IAUC 3878 along with optical confirmation by Charles T. Kowal, who reported it to be asteroidal in appearance. It was the first asteroid to be discovered by a spacecraft. It measures 5.10 km in diameter.

One of Phaethon's most remarkable distinctions is that it approaches the Sun closer than any other numbered asteroid; its perihelion is only 0.140 AU — less than half Mercury's perihelion distance. It is a Mercury-, Venus-, Earth- and Mars-crosser. The surface temperature at perihelion could reach ~1025 K, or 1400 F. For this reason, it was named after the Greek myth of Phaëton, son of the sun god Helios.

Phaethon's attributes can be argued as being cometary, except that Phaethon has never been observed exhibiting a coma, gas jets, or dust trail. However IAUC 3881 soon after discovery of 3200 Phaethon reported Fred Whipple's observation that "orbital elements of 1983 TB shown on IAUC 3879 are virtually coincident with the mean orbital elements of 19 Geminid meteors photographed with the super-Schmidt meteor cameras". Phaethon thus turned out to be the long-sought parent body of the Geminids meteor shower of mid-December. It is classified as an Apollo asteroid because of its orbital qualities, it has much in common with comets and it is also classified as a B-type asteroid because it is composed of dark material; this too fits well with a cometary origin.

When Phaethon came to perihelion in July 2009, it was brighter than expected. Phaethon approached to 18.1 Gm on December 10, 2007. It will draw nearer in 2017, 2050, 2060, and closer still on December 14, 2093, passing within 0.0198 AU (3.0 Gm).>>
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Re: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by neufer » Sat Dec 12, 2009 11:11 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Valley wrote:
<<Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast and iconic sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona, near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163. The Navajo name for the valley is Tsé Bii' Ndzisgaii (Valley of the Rocks).

The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The floor is largely Cutler Red siltstone or its sand deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide. The buttes are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is Organ Rock shale, the middle de Chelly sandstone and the top layer is Moenkopi shale capped by Shinarump siltstone. The valley includes large stone structures including the famed Eye of the Sun.

Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s. Appearances include films, such as Westerns by director John Ford, cartoons such as Chip n' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Metallica's music video I Disappear and science fiction movies such as Back to the Future III. Between 1948 and 1967, the southern extent of the Monument Upwarp was mined for uranium, which occurs in scattered areas of the Shinarump siltstone; vanadium and copper are associated with uranium in some deposits.>>
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.viamagazine.com/images/articles/valleyof_gods05.jpg wrote:
<<Many people have seen Monument Valley, the vast, iconic desert on the Arizona-Utah border that’s gorgeously interrupted by colossal sandstone monoliths, like bulky ships sailing an ocean of sand. Most often they’ve seen it in the context of a Hollywood shoot-’em-up with cowboys like John Wayne twirling six-shooters and dodging arrows. But few people know that 40 miles up the road there is another monumental valley—a geological Mini-Me known as the Valley of the Gods. A quarter the size of its famed neighbor, it has dozens of equally spectacular sandstone sculptures and spires, but on a smaller scale. What they lack in size, they make up for in brilliant color and variety.
Image
Dusted with fine red dirt and punctuated with silver-green brush, the valley lies at the base of a 1,200-foot bluff called Cedar Mesa that was formed when a sea invaded from the northwest 250 million years ago. The area’s jagged towers, gravelly washes, and tortured sandstone formations line Valley of the Gods Road, a 17-mile dirt route that links Highways 163 and 261, forming a scenic loop. Each bend in the road reveals a surprise, a slightly different shade of red or a new rock contortion, many of which are described in Navajo legend as ancient warriors frozen in time. The area’s remote beauty spoke to Gary and Claire Dorgan, who moved here from Flagstaff, Ariz., nine years ago to open the solar- and wind-powered Valley of the Gods Bed and Breakfast, the only lodging place for miles. Acting as the region’s unofficial caretakers, the Dorgans offer up local history, hearty breakfasts, and friendly advice on the best ways to experience the valley.>>
-------------------------------------------------
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6553 wrote:
<<Warriors frozen in time is how Navajo legends are said to describe the eerie, red rock spires in Valley of the Gods in Utah. In fact, the rocks forming this stark landscape are much older than the Navajo. This rocky valley lies at the base of Cedar Mesa, and the rocks were deposited by the invasion of a shallow sea about 250 million years ago. Over time, the water retreated, and the ancient sandstones and shales gradually turned red or purple as the iron in the rocks mixed with oxygen to form rust. Valley of the Gods is a “pint-sized” version of its larger and better-known cousin, Monument Valley, which is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) away.

Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite acquired this image of Valley of the Gods on May 9, 2004. In this image, the desert landscape appears in varying shades of cream, beige, rust, brown, and gray. Stair-stepped rock formations and towering pinnacles characterize this valley. >>

APOD: Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley (2009 Dec 12)

by APOD Robot » Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:56 am

Image Geminid Meteor over Monument Valley

Explanation: The Geminids are expected to put on a good show this year. Created as planet Earth sweeps through dusty debris from extinct comet Phaethon, the annual Geminid meteor shower is predicted to peak on December 14th, around 0510 UT (12:10am EST). With better viewing for northern hemisphere observers, pictures of Geminids streaking through the night could include wintery landscapes, like this snow-tinged image of a 2007 Geminid meteor over buttes of the Monument Valley region in the southwestern US. The meteor streak points back to the constellation Gemini and the shower's radiant point, just off the upper left edge of the scene. Along with Rigel, the sword and belt stars of Orion are at the upper right. Near the eastern horizon are bright stars Procyon (left) and Sirius. The two buttes at the far left are known as The Mittens - clearly a reminder that if you want to watch a meteor shower on a cold December night, wearing mittens would be a good idea.


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