Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Meteorspotting !

I couldn't find sleep Monday night, so around 2am I took my pillow and blanket and settled down on the carpet in the living room. I had great view on the sky as I laid there and despite the numerous clouds fleeting (weather had been rainy that day), I could see the stars and the moon. As I watched them closely, I witnessed a meteor fall... and made a wish.

I was totally taken by surprise and had no camera with me but this is precisely what made this moment so unique. Here is an idea of what I saw (I stole this pic from NASA)...


I have very little knowledge of astronomy but for what I understood it's Gemenids shower time as we speak. So if you have time and patience, give it a try, for this is potentially the best meteor display of the year...


Read also : Geminid Meteor Shower Defies Explanation - Source : NASA Sciences

3 comments:

Laurent Schneider said...

my daughter is a fanatic star watcher and if you want one hint for a beautifoul sky watching, go by new moon to http://www.sternwarte-mirasteilas.ch ! You can even see the milky way as we used to see it with naked eye when we were kids and we do not see it anymore in geneva/zurich areas...

nice pic by the way,
Laurent

Delphine Luchetta said...

Ah, merci du commentaire et pour le lien !

Nice pic ? La NASA sait prendre de belles photos assurément !

Je comprends ce dont tu parles lorsque tu évoques notre enfance et je me disais la même chose en observant le peu d'astres encore visibles à l'oeil nu au dessus de Genève... quand justement cette comète est apprarue.

Laurent Schneider said...

bien sûr, les Grisons pour toi c'est pas la porte à côté !

En ces temps de Noël (qui commence déjà mi-novembre ici), la pollution limuneuse est chaque année plus incommodante pour les astronautes en herbe.

Mais chaque contact avec le ciel est émouvant. A Falera, nous avons aussi vu l'explosion d'une étoile. Ca dure quelque semaines et ça s'est passé il y a des millions d'années. Un autre monde, je t'assure ;-)