Space Weather News for Dec. 12, 2010
http://spaceweather.com
GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: The Geminid meteor shower peaks this year on Dec. 13th
and 14th. Forecasters say meteor rates could exceed 100 per hour for observers
under dark rural skies. For best results, start your meteor watch on Monday
night, Dec. 13th, around midnight. Keep an eye out for Geminids until sunrise
on Tuesday, Dec. 14th. There's no special trick to seeing the Geminids. Bundle
up for maximum warmth, go outside, lie down and look up. Geminids can appear in
any part of the sky, but all their tails will point back to the radiant in the
constellation Gemini. Check
http://spaceweather.com for updates, images and a
sky map.
SPIRAL ASTEROID: Put this in the "weird" category. Main belt asteroid (596)
Scheila has suddenly developed an apparently spiral-shaped tail. The surprising
structure might be a result of a recent asteroid-asteroid collision, or perhaps
a sign that this asteroid is really a comet. An image of Scheila is featured on
today's edition of
http://spaceweather.com.