Other than the upcoming Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21st, this month is also going to be a good time to observe another type of celestial object — shooting stars. The Geminids, one of the best annual meteor showers, is happening now and reaches its peak on December 14th (that’s next Monday) after midnight. From now until 12/14, you may be able to catch a meteor or two in the sky if you head out for a bit on a cloudless night. I’m hoping it clears up for at least a few hours at some point this week — if the weather is good where you are, consider heading out to a remote location for a while with a lawn chair and blankets. You don’t even need a telescope or a pair of binoculars, just patience.
In other meteor news, the Buffalo area had two major visible fireball (aka meteor-falling-to-Earth) events in a single week! On December 2nd around noon, people witnessed a bright streak in the sky in broad daylight. Some spectators closer to Rochester and Syracuse even heard an accompanying noise, which is pretty amazing. I was lucky enough to see it myself as a short streak of white light in the eastern sky, but only for a second.
Another fireball occurred on December 7th around 8:30PM when it was darker, with people from Delaware through Massachusetts reporting a sighting. Sadly I didn’t catch that one, but I feel like it would have been amazing, especially with the dark and moonless skies we’ve had lately. If any BAA members saw either meteor event, tell me about it in the forum as I would love to have some eyewitness reports to add to this post.
You can also read spectator reports of each event yourself and see videos and pictures on the American Meteor Society’s website – December 2 December 7
Lastly, invitations to our December meeting on Friday (12/11) went out Monday in an email — please check your email to find it. If you don’t see it, please reach out to Mike Humphrey in the member forum. The two breakout room topics will be on astrophotography and Stellarium; anyone wishing to learn about either topic should stop by. That’s all I’ve got for now — see you around!
–Emilyann