Streaking Weekend – Day 761

Cloud Raptor Soaring – Photo: L. Weikel

Streaking Weekend

If you read my post from last night that tracked my failed attempt to glimpse the aurora borealis way down here at 40.4 degrees latitude, you know that the bright spot of that effort was definitely the three meteors I saw streaking through the sky instead. They were quite lovely and long-lasting (as far as shooting stars go), and really did feel like a wonderful consolation prize. The best news, though? We all need to get ready for a streaking weekend.

Lucky for me, a friend and faithful reader of my 1111 Devotion project, Paula, commented on one of my Facebook pages* about the shooting stars I mentioned. She alerted me to the fact that they’re the Geminids.

Shocked

I was shocked. What?! Me, little Miss Celestial Event Broadcaster missed an opportunity to view and recommend a cavalcade of shooting stars? I knew the name Geminids sounded familiar. Surely I must have written about them before?

A quick search of my posts revealed that yes, I had indeed written about the Geminids only seven short weeks ago. Of course, I had to laugh – the post itself was about my foiled effort to view the Orionids back on the evening of October 20th. I may not have seen any meteors that evening, but my research indicated the Geminids should be the best in show of 2020.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but I literally recommended we all mark our calendars for December 13th and 14th, which would be the peek evenings to catch sight of these frequent and flashy sky streaks. And then I promptly forgot to do so.

So, hurray for Paula, for identifying the origin of my three gifts last night – and thereby reminding us all of the even more spectacular opportunity to witness the Geminids this weekend.

A Great Show

If I saw three shootings stars three nights before the event’s peek, just imagine how great they’ll be on Saturday, Sunday, and even Monday evening. I see from this article that they could even streak in different colors!

The particular attribute that I noticed most last night was that they weren’t just quick blips that left me wondering if I’d actually seen them or not. No, they were good, solid arcs across the sky. Brilliant and decently sized as well.

Barring any dreaded cloud cover, the conditions to enjoy the Geminids will be approaching perfection, with the moon being new and thus dark, as opposed to the brilliance of a full moon drowning out the light of the stars. But of course, it’s the potential for cloud cover that so often ruins these otherwise deliciously ripe moments.

Fair Warning

As soon as I post this tonight, I’m going to take a little zip out to see if I can catch a few more streaks before bed this evening. I’m doing this mostly because I just checked The Weather Channel app and it looks like both tomorrow and Sunday night may be hampered somewhat by clouds. But hey, maybe we’ll get lucky. Monday night, however, looks like it could end up being the best night of all.

Finally

Jupiter is continuing to do its best to catch up to Saturn, which again, will culminate on December 21st. Compare their location this evening to that of a few days ago and you can really see the difference.

Saturn (left) and Jupiter, nearing conjunction – Photo: L. Weikel

*I share my blog posts on both of my Facebook pages – Owl Medicine and Owl Medicine Shamanic Healing – as well as on my personal page. If you ever notice a morning when my post hasn’t been delivered to your inbox, check on FB. You can always find it there – and often with even more photos than the email version.

(T-350)

Alpha Monocerotids – Day 374

 

Alpha Monocerotids

As promised in my slightly cranky post following the underwhelming Leonid meteor showers this past weekend, we have yet another opportunity to connect with the magic of the cosmos this week.

We can only hope that where each of us lives the cloud cover will part and the Alpha Moncerotids (hereinafter called the AMOs) will be easily seen.

Burst of Activity

The coolest part of the AMO meteor shower is that it occurs in a burst that usually lasts between 30-60 minutes total. This differs significantly from most other meteor showers, which can extend for several hours. Even more exciting to anticipate is that the AMOs are expected to generate approximately 400 meteors per hour during the burst of activity.

As you can read in more detail in the articles I’ve linked here and above (and other articles, should you choose to research the phenomenon further), people on the East Coast of the U.S. should check start checking the sky about half an hour to an hour ahead of when the ‘burst’ is expected to begin.

Acclimate Your Eyes

Obviously, ‘arrival time’ could vary slightly from the prediction, but it’s also smart to allow your eyes to get used to the night sky ahead of time. Thus, if it’s mild enough outside, or if you have some good blankets to wrap up in, you might want to get yourself to your favorite viewing spot at around 11:20 p.m.

The actual ‘burst’ is supposed to begin at approximately 11:50 p.m. Making it worth your while to hang around and maybe find a dark (i.e. non light polluted) place where you can point your nose toward the eastern horizon is the fact that so many are supposed to be visible in such a compact period of time.

Hopefully we’ll see something!

(T-737)

Comet Detritus Alert – Day 344

Halley’s Comet – Photo: space.com

Comet Detritus Alert

I want to get this post written as quickly as I can this evening because I’d like to heed my own alert. I’m hoping I’ll manage to see at least a couple ‘shooting stars’ this evening before I head to bed. Yes: I am posting a Comet Detritus Alert.

You’ve all probably seen the articles posted recently on social media that entreat us all to make sure not to miss this cosmic show. Here’s an interesting article on the subject too. So, yes, tonight is the best night to ‘catch a falling star’ for quite a while, but it’s definitely not the only night, and of course it’s not the only meteor shower we’ll enjoy this year.

From Whence Detritus?

Halley’s Comet. That’s the source of the little pieces of rock strewn in a path through which we pass, and which cause a magical light show twice a year now, in May and October.

What I find pretty intriguing is contemplating that I made a point of peering skyward in 1986, when Halley’s Comet came blowing thorough for the first time in 76 years. I was so excited! Hard for me to believe that it was 32 years ago already.

I remember recalling how I’d heard about ‘Halley’s Comet’ all my life. In fact, it is probably the comet we know best by name – it’s sort of the cliché name that most people think of when they think ‘comet.’

Halley’s Comet – Photo: cnet. com

The Real Deal

Weirdly, though, when we located the comet in the sky that night, it looked stationary! We could see, especially using binoculars, the ‘tail’ of the comet – but it didn’t appear to our naked eyes to be really moving through the sky.

I don’t know why it felt strange, but it did. It’s not as if other heavenly bodies are stationary – and yet I readily accept that they appear stationary. Even the moon – it’s moving. But it’s not as if my eyes can detect that movement.

I think it’s because of the comet’s tail. Because the splash of light trailing the main chunk of the comet literally looks like it is moving through space, it stands to reason that it shouldn’t appear stationary from our point of view.

And yet it does.

Tonight’s Display

Actually, we’ve already begun passing through the detritus left by the tail of the comet as it passed through our inner solar system 32 years ago. It takes us just over a month to pass through that space debris twice a year (in May and October). But tonight is when the debris is thickest, and thus the meteors raining down through our atmosphere should be the most active and impressive.

Even if it isn’t the primary event, it’s nevertheless a humbling experience to realize how short our little lives here are when compared to celestial cycles such as this.

I Remember…

I remember making a point of looking for the famous Halley’s Comet when it passed by. It was in February of 1986, and the air was cold and had a bite to it, and the night sky was that midnight blue that is peculiar to deep winter.

I remember waking little Karl up so he could look at it too. Seeing Halley’s Comet is often thought of as a ‘once in a lifetime’ activity, since it shows up only every 75-76 years. But I remember specifically trying to simply explain to my little boy that he might be one of the lucky people who would actually be able to say they’d seen this amazing occurrence twice.

Karl was four and a half years old when Halley’s Comet last made its appearance. And yes, it was anticlimactic precisely because we couldn’t see it streaking across the sky. My son was decidedly not ‘wowed’ by the spectacle.

Nevertheless, I loved imagining him seeing it again when he was 79 years old or so – certainly not an outrageous dream – and telling his grandchildren how his mother, their great grandmother, dragged him out of bed so he could witness an event – twice – that’s only supposed to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.

(T-767)