Some success observing the Geminids on Dec. 13th-14th.....

[Dan Chieppa]

Greetings,
I had some success viewing the Gemini meteor shower tonight. I checked the sky around 1:45AM and noticed it was clearing. I quickly went outside and started viewing the sky. Gemini was just about overhead. I saw two, faint meteors between 1:55AM and 2:10AM. Both appeared close to Leo. I decided to try and get a photo of a Geminid and set up my Canon 20D digital camera on a tripod. I took 40 pictures between 2:45AM and 3:20AM. At approximately 3:15AM I saw a fairly bright meteor pass just below Saturn. It was bright enough that I made note of the frame and decided to check the pictures right away. The clouds rolled in at 3:21AM so I packed up at 3:30AM and called it a night. I checked the sky at 4:00AM and again at 4:30AM but it was still cloudy.
When I checked the photos I found just one that showed a faint streak. It was the frame I made note of at 3:15AM. The meteor was much brighter to the naked eye than the photo shows but the picture is better than nothing. One of these days I'll learn how to post a photo. (I have the instructions, thanks Pete.)
If the skies clear up on Thursday night I might try observing again. Did anyone else get in any observing?
Clear skies,
Dan

[WCGucfa]

Hey Danny and all,
I got out to see the Geminids also Dan. This weather is driving me nuts. The good thing is, I didn't listen to the weather reports that said it would be cloudy. I kept seeing holes around midnight and Accuweather radar showed that the clouds would be moving out. We were right on the edge. I tend to trust radar more than the Clear Sky Clock. It's a birds-eye view of what's going on around you and you can animate it to see which direction the clouds are moving.
Anyway, my goal was to get a photo of a meteor or two, of course, rather than an accurate count. I set up the tripod with my trusty Sony DSC-F707 set it at 10 second exposures at f/2. Chances would be better at 30 seconds under a pristine sky. As it was, anything over 10 seconds overexposed with the light pollution. At 12 to 12:30 big holes would open up showing all of Orion, then at times Leo and Saturn appeared and then the zenith with Gemini, Auriga, Perseus etc.
Like I was target practicing with a shotgun, I would shoot at these holes as they appeared. Slowly, the whole sky opened up after 1 a.m.
While the 10 second timer kicked away I got to scan the sky visually and always saw a meteor during this time. Intermittantly, a beautiful fireball over my shoulder, then three lesser ones, one after the other. One -4 fireball alongside Orion, about 25 degrees long. Short bright meteors near the radiant at the zenith. All this, it figures, out of my camera's field!
The bottom line is, no meteor photos in my camera memory but great meteor images in my physical memory. The shower was great! From about 1:45 to 2:10, I'm not shy to guess 60 to 80 and hour. I'll go out on a limb and say if it were drier air and not 3.5 mag. seeing and if I observed in a lounge chair, there may have been over 100 per hour. I missed a lot operating the camera. At one point, my barn, 300 feet away, disappeared in an eerie creeping fog! Thankfully, it returned by 2:30 when the count dropped considerably and I packed it in for the session.
Conclusions: Well worth the effort. I'm going to pass my orange cast sodium vapor illuminated fog photos off as aurora pics. Who'll know the difference?!

Bill

[Dan Chieppa]

Bill,
Check your email for the one photo I got with a Geminid meteor in it.
Your observing session was early Thursday morning, correct?
Clear skies,
Dan

[james and james mceachern]

hi dan, we were out that wednesday and saw 4 very impressive fireballs green and blue tails skipping thru the atmosphere early around 9 pm, the bodies were green/blue/yellow large flaming masses! probably the best weve ever seen and near 40 degrees in length, all within 10 minutes of each other, the first 2 were seconds apart and with sol 2's (gillette stadium) lights on. many small ones also. we were trying to observe but sol 2 stopped that. jim and james

[Dan Chieppa]

Hi Jim,
From what I've read about this Gemini shower the best of it was in the early part of Wednesday evening. I didn't get out until after midnight so I guess I missed the really impressive ones. Glad you got to see some of it.
Clear skies,
Dan