Geminids from the Rocky Mountains

[Hayduke27]

Luckily I had been watching the forecast on Clear Outside, and I was aware that last night (Dec. 13-14th), although the peak of the Geminids, was going to be a cloudy mess.  In anticipation, my special lady and I eased ourselves out of bed at 03:00 on the morning of the 13th to some skies with light clouds, but overall clear enough to enjoy the show.

I, of course, brought my scope along.  After arriving and getting set up I took a quick look at the Double Cluster and M105, but quickly found that I wanted to spend more time with my naked eyes looking around with the chance of spotting the meteors.  It was a good choice.  We saw too many to count, several times witnessing 5 or 6 in less than a minute.  We saw a handful of really slow bright burners, which are always highlights of the night.  I used the binos for a little star hopping, but overall the view with the naked eye won out and was the preferred method for the morning.

As the sky began to lighten, I turned my scope over to the southeast to look at the moon, Mars, Spica, and Jupiter all together in a nice "Y" shape.  I started with the moon, and found that if I put it low in the EP and then viewed from the correct angle I could totally block out the illuminated bit and see very clearly the rest of the area that was illuminated only with earthshine!  I could make out a lot of detail and it was quite beautiful.  It reminded me of how the earth looks during a full moon, as I suppose it's pretty much the same thing going on.  

I took a quick look at Spica and Mars, but Jupiter is what I was burning to see more than any of them.  I had recently acquired a ES 6.7mm 82° eyepiece, and was very excited about testing it out on the planet.  I soon had the scope centered and focused, and it was a beautiful sight!  Though transparency was not great with things being so low on the horizon, I could very clearly make out the red bands.  All four moons were below the planet, in a 2-pair formation.  I spent a long time watching Jupiter as the sky got lighter and the light cloud layers soon turned bright red and orange.  I can't wait to see Jupiter and Mars higher in the night sky!

What a beautiful morning.  I hope you all got a little taste of this winter light show!  Clear Skies!!

[Stu]

An amazing experience by the sounds of it. Your description of the earthshine also sounds wonderful  

[Astro Imp]

Lovely report Alex, seems you had a lot of fun, just wish I'd been alongside you but I was reading your report 

[scarp15]

Brilliant, takes quite a commitment to get up at 3am, also nice to read of your account of Jupiter at this time of year.

[Pete Presland]

Excellent report, the view at sunrise was a nice way to end a nights viewing.