APOD: Geminid Meteor Shower over Dashanbao... (2013 Dec 13)

[APOD Robot]

Geminid Meteor Shower over Dashanbao Wetlands

Explanation: The annual Geminid meteor shower is raining down on planet Earth this week. And despite the waxing gibbous moonlight, the reliable Geminids should be enjoyable tonight (night of December 13/14) near the shower's peak. Recorded near last year's peak in the early hours of December 14, 2012, this skyscape captures many of Gemini's lovely shooting stars. The careful composite of exposures was made during a three hour period overlooking the Dashanbao Wetlands in central China. Dark skies above are shared with bright Jupiter (right), Orion, (right of center) and the faint band of the Milky Way. The shower's radiant in the constellation Gemini, the apparent source of all the meteor streaks, lies just above the top of the frame. Dust swept up from the orbit of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second.

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[geckzilla]

Congrats on finally getting an APOD, Jeff. I've been enjoying your work over at Flickr for a while now. By the way, anyone who doesn't go look at the rest of it is missing out.

[Beyond]

He takes some nice pictures

[BDanielMayfield]

Geminid Meteor Shower over Dashanbao Wetlands[/url]

Explanation: The annual Geminid meteor shower is raining down on planet Earth this week. ... Dust swept up from the orbit of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second.

Why so few comments? This is a fine image. The two links in the above explanation helped me in two ways.

First, today's APOD is demonstrates that meteor showers don't always come from comets. Or maybe that comets and asteriods aren't as different as was once thought.

And Secondly, well shoot, I've got to go to work now, so stay tuned ...

[Nitpicker]

Congrats on finally getting an APOD, Jeff. I've been enjoying your work over at Flickr for a while now. By the way, anyone who doesn't go look at the rest of it is missing out.

I quite agree. I just spent a fair while ooh'ing and ahh'ing at that collection. Congratulations.

[Chris Peterson]

156 Geminids over the last three nights.

Not in the image are all these, as well:

Puppid-Velid 7
Monocerotid 20
chi Orionid 6
sigma Hydrid 15
46P 10
Sporadic 40
Unknown 72 (too short to determine radiant)

The 46P meteors are interesting- a new shower with no name yet, having its radiant in Pisces and created by debris from Comet 46P/Wirtanen.

I've got an activity plot and some fireball videos posted on my report page.

[Boomer12k]

"It's rainin' Meteors, Pa...."

:---[===] *

[Nitpicker]

156 Geminids over the last three nights.

Not[e] in the image are all these, as well:

Puppid-Velid 7
Monocerotid 20
chi Orionid 6
sigma Hydrid 15
46P 10
Sporadic 40
Unknown 72 (too short to determine radiant)

The 46P meteors are interesting- a new shower with no name yet, having its radiant in Pisces and created by debris from Comet 46P/Wirtanen.

I've got an activity plot and some fireball videos posted on my report page.

Very impressive Chris. I made my first every vaguely-well-thought-out attempt to capture some Geminids last night. Mainly got cloud I'm afraid.

[Chris Peterson]

156 Geminids over the last three nights.

Not[e] in the image are all these, as well:

Puppid-Velid 7
Monocerotid 20
chi Orionid 6
sigma Hydrid 15
46P 10
Sporadic 40
Unknown 72 (too short to determine radiant)

The 46P meteors are interesting- a new shower with no name yet, having its radiant in Pisces and created by debris from Comet 46P/Wirtanen.

I've got an activity plot and some fireball videos posted on my report page.

Very impressive Chris. I made my first every vaguely-well-thought-out attempt to capture some Geminids last night. Mainly got cloud I'm afraid.

No, I mean NOT in the image. The composite is just the 156 Geminids. The others were recorded and added to the meteor database, but not this image.

[Anthony Barreiro]

2013-Geminids-(fiiltered).jpg

156 Geminids over the last three nights.

Not in the image are all these, as well:

Puppid-Velid 7
Monocerotid 20
chi Orionid 6
sigma Hydrid 15
46P 10
Sporadic 40
Unknown 72 (too short to determine radiant)

The 46P meteors are interesting- a new shower with no name yet, having its radiant in Pisces and created by debris from Comet 46P/Wirtanen.

I've got an activity plot and some fireball videos posted on my report page.

Thanks Chris, it looks like it's been an active year for Geminids. Did you catch any Andromedids earlier this week?

[Chris Peterson]

Thanks Chris, it looks like it's been an active year for Geminids. Did you catch any Andromedids earlier this week?

I did. And you reminded me that my radiant analyzer didn't have the Andromedid shower entered. So my results for the last three nights are:

• Andromedid 5
  Puppid-Velid 7
  Monocerotid 18
  chi Orionid 5
  sigma Hydrid 15
  Geminid 156
  46P 9
  Sporadic 39
  Unknown 72

And for the last week:

• Andromedid 9
  December Phoenicid 2
  Puppid-Velid 10
  Monocerotid 26
  chi Orionid 6
  sigma Hydrid 28
  Geminid 162
  46P 9
  Sporadic 64
  Unknown 88

Lots going on right now. This will stay high until the Quadrantids in the first week of January, and then all shower activity will plummet until summer, except for a few brief flurries in April and May.

[georgeliv]

The apod image of Jupiter in Taurus is almost certainly from 2011.
2012 was my 35th year of following Jupiter; going though nearly exactly 3 orbits back in the feet of Gemini.

[BDanielMayfield]

Ok, this is the second point that I wanted to say this morning. The discussion link to the place where today’s image was recorded; the "Dashanbao Wetlands in central China." shows an equally impressive night sky shot from about the same location on the TWAN website. TWAN photographers are often featured here, but until today I hadn’t been on their site and I hadn’t even learned what the acronym meant.

So today in addition to learning about the how similar comets and asteroids can be I learned that TWAN stands for "The World At Night". The goals of this undertaking are laudable. From their website in the “About TWAN” page I quote:

The World At Night (TWAN) is a program to create and exhibit a collection of stunning landscape astrophotographs and time-lapse videos of the world’s most beautiful and historic sites against a nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. TWAN is a bridge between art, humanity, and science. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all the landmarks and symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories. Those involved in global programs learn to see humanity as a family living together on a single planet amidst the vast ocean of our Universe. This global perspective motivates us to work for a better, more peaceful planet for all the world’s inhabitants. Astronomers Without Borders was created to work toward this goal. TWAN is an innovative new approach to expanding this global perspective.
…
Wars are fought over boundaries that have been created in the name of politics, religion, race or beliefs. But the view from space reveals the true nature of our cosmic home – a border-less planet divided only into land and sea. While few will experience that view first-hand, the same is also true in reverse; the night sky above us – a view that is accessible to everyone on the planet – also has no visible borders. This common view is a bridge that connects us, creating understanding and friendship. When borders vanish, political and cultural differences become irrelevant. The beauty of brilliant Venus might be seen in Texas just hours after it is seen by sky gazers in Tehran. The famous stars of the Big Dipper might be viewed over the Vatican while Buddhists in China share the same celestial view over their temples. The magnificent Milky Way might be viewed over the Grand Canyon while people in Nepal are awed by the same celestial view over the Himalaya. We all live under the same eternally peaceful sky. And the Earth we inhabit under it belongs to us all.

I enjoyed learning what TWAN was all about. Previously I recall some grousing by other prospective APOD contributors about the frequency of TWAN photographers’ images being included here. The origin and purpose of this group makes their frequent inclusion both understandable and very appropriate.

[geckzilla]

The apod image of Jupiter in Taurus is almost certainly from 2011.
2012 was my 35th year of following Jupiter; going though nearly exactly 3 orbits back in the feet of Gemini.

According to my planetarium software (Stellarium) Jupiter's position is accurate for 2012. The Pleiades are seen pointing toward Jupiter at the far right, too.

[Anthony Barreiro]

The apod image of Jupiter in Taurus is almost certainly from 2011.
2012 was my 35th year of following Jupiter; going though nearly exactly 3 orbits back in the feet of Gemini.

My planetarium software, sky safari, agrees with the apod caption. On December 14, 2012, Jupiter was 2 degrees north of Epsilon Tauri, the bull's dimmer eye, as seen in the picture. On December 14, 2011, Jupiter was 7 degrees northeast of Alpha Piscium, the knot tying the two fish together. I think you might have gotten off by a year here or there. 36 years is a long time!

[Jeff Dai]

Congrats on finally getting an APOD, Jeff. I've been enjoying your work over at Flickr for a while now. By the way, anyone who doesn't go look at the rest of it is missing out.

Thank you very much for your attention to my work, geckzilla

[Jeff Dai]

Ok, this is the second point that I wanted to say this morning. The discussion link to the place where today’s image was recorded; the "Dashanbao Wetlands in central China." shows an equally impressive night sky shot from about the same location on the TWAN website. TWAN photographers are often featured here, but until today I hadn’t been on their site and I hadn’t even learned what the acronym meant.

So today in addition to learning about the how similar comets and asteroids can be I learned that TWAN stands for "The World At Night". The goals of this undertaking are laudable. From their website in the “About TWAN” page I quote:

The World At Night (TWAN) is a program to create and exhibit a collection of stunning landscape astrophotographs and time-lapse videos of the world’s most beautiful and historic sites against a nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. TWAN is a bridge between art, humanity, and science. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all the landmarks and symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories. Those involved in global programs learn to see humanity as a family living together on a single planet amidst the vast ocean of our Universe. This global perspective motivates us to work for a better, more peaceful planet for all the world’s inhabitants. Astronomers Without Borders was created to work toward this goal. TWAN is an innovative new approach to expanding this global perspective.
…
Wars are fought over boundaries that have been created in the name of politics, religion, race or beliefs. But the view from space reveals the true nature of our cosmic home – a border-less planet divided only into land and sea. While few will experience that view first-hand, the same is also true in reverse; the night sky above us – a view that is accessible to everyone on the planet – also has no visible borders. This common view is a bridge that connects us, creating understanding and friendship. When borders vanish, political and cultural differences become irrelevant. The beauty of brilliant Venus might be seen in Texas just hours after it is seen by sky gazers in Tehran. The famous stars of the Big Dipper might be viewed over the Vatican while Buddhists in China share the same celestial view over their temples. The magnificent Milky Way might be viewed over the Grand Canyon while people in Nepal are awed by the same celestial view over the Himalaya. We all live under the same eternally peaceful sky. And the Earth we inhabit under it belongs to us all.

I enjoyed learning what TWAN was all about. Previously I recall some grousing by other prospective APOD contributors about the frequency of TWAN photographers’ images being included here. The origin and purpose of this group makes their frequent inclusion both understandable and very appropriate.

Hello BDanielMayfield,
TWAN shows a stunning sights of landscape astronomy. Many of these photos contain not only the Information of astronomy but also geographic, histroy, Light pollution etc.
I'm a guest photographer here, Wish you enjoy TWAN.

[geckzilla]

Hehe, hi Jeff!

Geminid watching: I just stood at the second story east window of my house and stared at Jupiter for half an hour just to find out if I could spot Geminids under horrible conditions. I live in Queens, NYC, the sky is covered in cirrus, and there are orange street lamps I was able to occlude by awkwardly slouching at the window to put a bar in front of them. At about 21:10 (I didn't think to mark the time exactly) I saw a nice, bright streak emanating from Gemini. Bam! If I can spot one, I think just about anyone can, clouds aside.

[Jeff Dai]

Hehe, hi Jeff!

Geminid watching: I just stood at the second story east window of my house and stared at Jupiter for half an hour just to find out if I could spot Geminids under horrible conditions. I live in Queens, NYC, the sky is covered in cirrus, and there are orange street lamps I was able to occlude by awkwardly slouching at the window to put a bar in front of them. At about 21:10 (I didn't think to mark the time exactly) I saw a nice, bright streak emanating from Gemini. Bam! If I can spot one, I think just about anyone can, clouds aside.

Better than me, It's cloudy in Chongqing ,China.
I see nothing >_<

[Nitpicker]

No, I mean NOT in the image. The composite is just the 156 Geminids. The others were recorded and added to the meteor database, but not this image.

Oops, silly me.

[Prospero]

Geminid watching: I just stood at the second story east window of my house and stared at Jupiter for half an hour just to find out if I could spot Geminids under horrible conditions. I live in Queens,

We all have our problems !
On your prompt I went out to have a look (normally I go watch the Persieds and Leonids and am mostly disappointed!)
and within 5 mins was rewarded by 4 bright Geminids! Thank you

Bam! If I can spot one, I think just about anyone can, clouds aside.

if you could see Jupiter,,, how about Castor and Pollux ? the Geminids I saw just now were no feinthearts ! easily brighter than C and P, but not equal to Jupiter.

(and there I was thinking that a local lim mag of 4.5 might be prob! )

Edit :
Ha. y'all are keeping me out of my bed, (4am local(4utc)) , spectacular streak past Capella, well up with Jupiter !

[LocalColor]

As usual, we have thick clouds - can't even see the moon.

[geckzilla]

Cool, I'm glad you had a good show, Prospero. Castor and Pollux were extremely faint but when the cirrus let up at times I could make them out.

LocalColor: Shucks, better luck next time.

[Prospero]

That was an interesting night, quite unusual for England - a clear sky, moon not too prominent and a good meteor shower all at the same time , oh yes, and me awake !

Not many 'ordinary' meteors, probably due to the thin haze, but lots of very bright ones (fireballs?), is this pattern usual for the Geminids or was there an outburst ? Anyone have links to analysis of the activity ?
I have not been so entertained by a meteor shower since the Leonid outburst of 200? Gosh that seems so long ago now!

[Anthony Barreiro]

I saw a few bright Geminids last night while I was out watching Jupiter, and a few more before dawn this morning. Interestingly, the orbit of the Geminid meteoroids is being perturbed by the gravity of Earth and Jupiter, so this shower, which first appeared in the 1860's, may disappear this century. See them while you can!

I also happened to see an Andromedid meteor last Monday evening, December 9. I had just read an announcement of this rare shower on spaceweather.com, otherwise I wouldn't have recognized it, but it was definitely coming from Andromeda.

It's been a good week for meteors, even here in the city.