Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Significant Sungrazing Comet + Geminid Meteor Shower

Posted by Joe McDonald


Space Weather News for Dec. 13, 2011
http://spaceweather.com

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER:  Earth is passing through a stream of debris from near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower.  Forecasters expect meteor rates to reach 20-to-40 per hour when the shower peaks in bright moonlight on the night of Dec.13/14.  The best time to look, no matter where you live, is between 10 pm local time on Tuesday, Dec. 13, and sunrise on Wednesday, Dec. 14th. Check http://spaceweather.comfor more information and live audio from a meteor radar.

BIG SUNDIVING COMET: A comet nearly as wide as two football fields (200m) is plunging toward the sun where it will most likely be destroyed in a spectacular light show on Dec. 15/16. Solar glare will hide the event from human eyes, but NASA and ESA spacecraft should have a grand view.  Check http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.

METALLIC PHOTOS OF THE SUN: Would you like to have an explosion a billion times more powerful than an atomic bomb hanging on your wall?  Unique metallic photos of solar flares and prominences are now available in the Space Weather Store:http://www.shopspaceweather.com/metallicpicturesofthesun.aspx



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