2022 Geminid Meteor Shower

[Christopher K.]

The Geminid meteor shower lasts this year roughly from 19 November to 24 December. Practically speaking, within forty kilometers of Baton Rouge one should look from 12 December to 16 December.

HRPO personnel are planning to have the facility open from 10pm to 2am on the peak night, which the American Meteor Society has determined to be 13/14 December. The waning gibbous Moon will be a hindrance; it will be twelve degrees up at 11pm, rising ever higher toward its 4:50am culmination. The only government property in EBR Parish people are allowed to use for viewing this event is probably the Highland Road Park Observatory. HRPO is definitely the only BREC property on which people can be for the Geminids. The viewing session has no admission fee and all ages are allowed.

One should lie comfortably on the ground on a blanket or tarp that can get dirty. Alternatively, use a lawn chair or some other reclining chair. Most of the time, one should keep the head angled to a point about halfway to two-thirds from horizon to zenith.

General tips for viewing meteors include...
*Dress warmly. You'll be lose a lot of body heat lying immobile.
*Do not consume alcohol of any sort. Even before consumption has given you a "buzz", it has hindered night vision.
*Do not allow your electronic device (flip phone, smart phone, tablet etc.) to glow in your eyes unless you can have it glow red and faint. There will be instructions inside the main building for toggling iPhones and Android to and from a red light display.
*Do not take your eyes off the sky! Even the slowest meteors are quite fast. Talk and socialize if desired, but everyone around should understand that searching for meteors is taking precedent.
*Do not break any laws or ignore any basic safety principles to increase the chance of seeing more meteor streaks; it's not worth it.

The Geminid radiant at this time lies one-and-three-quarters degrees northwest of Castor and less than one-and-one-quarter degrees from Eta Geminorum, an F-class magnitude 4.2 star. A few meteors seen during these mornings may be sporadic (not associated with any shower) or related to one of many minor showers happening simultaneously.

If you choose to view from your backyard, make advanced plans to extinguish your home's outer lights and to request that your neighbors do the same. If you have a civic or homeowners' association consider making a motion to adopt a policy to switch to and maintain full cut-off (FCO) lighting year-round; this will make your neighborhood perpetually "ready" for viewing meteors in the night sky.

Please do not go anywhere for which you've not been given permission, or anywhere that is unsafe.

[Christopher K.]

Wednesday and Thursday nights beginning at 10pm are probably going to be the best times for the local population to hunt for Geminids from their respective backyards.

At this time for the planned HRPO Geminid viewing event, Danko is listing the transparency at zero. NOAA is listing a rain chance of over thirty-five percent and a cloud cover of over seventy-five percent.

More information:
https://www.amsmeteors.org/2022/12/view ... r-in-2022/
https://astronomy.com/observing/sky-thi ... er-9-to-16
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... hei-fades/
https://www.space.com/geminid-meteor-sh ... k-dec-2022

[Christopher K.]

Sunset was at 5:04pm CST. Twilight ends at 6:31pm CST. The front gate and main building will be open at 8:20pm. Below is the NOAA forecast for HRPO's planned viewing time of 9pm to 1am...
precipitation potential, 34%
sky cover, 76%
relative humidity, 98%
temperature, 22˚C
surface wind, S 17 km/h
Danko's Clear Dark Sky states that during HRPO's viewing time the transparency rating will be "too cloudy to forecast" (0 out of 5) and the seeing rating will be "bad" (1 out of 5).

HRPO will close at 11pm. If it begins to rain anytime after 9pm, HRPO will close immediately.

The 13 December 2022 evening rating is...
EXCELLENT
VERY GOOD
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
BAD

[Christopher K.]

Well…other Earthlings had excellent views of the 2022 Geminids, including any hanging out at Monument Valley.

This new calendar year there are nine major and seventeen minor showers listed by the AMS. During this first week of January reinforce your property’s sky-friendly qualities including insuring a good angular span of sky free of obstruction and no direct artificial light aimed up or in your face.

25 December 2022 APOD:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221225.html