Geminids - Heads up! Seeing lots NOW!

[Leo S]

Very clear here, and still early, but just caught 3 Geminids in about 2 seconds.

Looks like peak may be late, and strong!

[Neil H]

Thanks for the heads up 

[andrew63]

Lovely and clear here, just saw a good one below Jupiter 7.44.

[andrew63]

Another two in quick succession under Jupiter 19.53  Good ones through Ursa Major  20.13 and 20.19

Edited December 14, 2022 by andrew63
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[wookie1965]

Saw one at 5am this morning 

[IB20]

Have just seen two in quick succession near Rigel. Extremely bright!

[mdstuart]

Good one seen earlier here near Bristol. Slow and bright.

Mark

[andrew63]

Good one by Sirius just now - equal as bright.

[PeterStudz]

It does seem good. I was out sorting are rabbits out for the night and saw two, one very bright, within 5 mins. This was from Southampton and with thin high cloud. I wouldn’t call the sky  clear.

[Leo S]

Rates seem to have dropped a bit, but there have been some very bright Geminids in the last few hours. I wouldn't rule out more fireballs.

[andrew63]

Picked up a very bright Geminid with iPhone at 2.26 shooting down by Orion ☄️

 

 

[Fegato]

Thanks - saw a good few here in the handful of minutes before I froze and had to retire indoors! 

[Moonlit Knight]

I saw perhaps 8 or 9 around 11.30 to midnight, some good ones too

[scotty1]

It was -6C about 1am, I had a look for about 20mins 01.30 onwards and saw six Geminids. Two were at least as bright as Sirius

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by scotty1

[Elp]

I think I saw a lot but they were mostly very faint and at averted vision. When I actually sat still for around 30 mins only really saw one very short one.

[Captain Scarlet]

I saw about 15 in 45 minutes last night, two very bright with visible trails.

Magnus

[Leo S]

Still a few tonight by the looks of it. Seeing some long/bright earthgrazers on UKMON, although I have not observed any yet this evening myself. The cameras are running once again - I only just managed to offload last night's data off the SSDs/SDs in time to get the cameras running tonight!

[andrew63]

53 minutes ago, Leo S said:

Still a few tonight by the looks of it. Seeing some long/bright earthgrazers on UKMON, although I have not observed any yet this evening myself. The cameras are running once again - I only just managed to offload last night's data off the SSDs/SDs in time to get the cameras running tonight!

Looking forward to seeing them, fingers crossed!

[Leo S]

10 minutes ago, andrew63 said:

Looking forward to seeing them, fingers crossed!

I wouldn't expect too much from tonight, especially in terms of numbers of bright events, but should still be a few fireballs about, hopefully! Last night was pretty spectacular.

[Guest]

We have been 100% cloud cover here in Ohio.  I will miss the whole thing 

[Leo S]

19 hours ago, Mike Q said:

We have been 100% cloud cover here in Ohio.  I will miss the whole thing 

Always frustrating when that happens. On a positive note though, next year is looking like a good one for meteor showers, and the Moon will be well out of the way for the Geminids (and others too possibly), unlike this year!

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Leo S said:

Always frustrating when that happens. On a positive note though, next year is looking like a good one for meteor showers, and the Moon will be well out of the way for the Geminids (and others too possibly), unlike this year!

November is one of our cloudiest months.  So unless one comes sreaming through on a low angle pass.... The likelihood of me getting to see much in November is pretty slim. 

[Leo S]

22 hours ago, Leo S said:

I wouldn't expect too much from tonight, especially in terms of numbers of bright events, but should still be a few fireballs about, hopefully! Last night was pretty spectacular.

It was a slow night, and I hardly saw anything. I decided to pack up early (5 AM) for a change as I was feeling a little more worn out than usual.

The cameras are running again tonight, and just a little while ago @ 19:09:20 UT I observed what may have been a fireball magnitude earthgrazing Geminid, heading from overhead in a westerly direction. One of the cameras should have caught a good part of it too.

I have not yet even had a chance to check the footage from two nights back, but it looks like the clear nights are over after tonight, so hope to go through some footage soon!

[Leo S]

2 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

November is one of our cloudiest months.  So unless one comes sreaming through on a low angle pass.... The likelihood of me getting to see much in November is pretty slim. 

That is usually the case here in the UK at this time of year too. I have lost count of the times we have had Geminids foiled by bad weather recently, and many other major shower peaks in recent years.

This year has not been too bad for me though (not just the Geminids, but in general), but perhaps partly because I have been bull-headed and determined to make the most of any (even small patches) clear sky when they are about. Although most peak nights this year were clouded out, I was able to observe for long periods around them, and that has made up for what I missed, but I realize not everyone can do this. I also let my cameras do most of the observing for me, but try to observe visually when I get a chance.

At the end of the day you just have to keep trying, and eventually you will catch a good peak under clear skies. Take advantage of the clear skies in the nights either side of the peak night too, as sometimes they can turn out to be the best nights, if you are offered them.

[Leo S]

Here's the event I observed earlier, caught by one (others caught it too) UKMON camera: