CHINESE SPACECRAFT ORBITS THE MOON: China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft is now orbiting the Moon following a four and a half day journey from Earth. Chang'e-4 is on an unprecedented mission to land on the Moon's farside. First, though, mission scientists must adjust the spacecraft's orbit and test a communication link between Earth and the mission's relay satellite "Queqiao," according to the China National Space Administration. Stay tuned for updates.
METEORS FROM A ROCK COMET: The Geminid meteor shower is underway as Earth enters a stream of debris from rock comet 3200 Phaethon. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Dec. 13th or 14th with as many as 100 meteors per hour. Exactly one year ago, during the peak of the 2017 Geminids, Wally Pacholka witnessed this fireball over the desert northeast of San Diego, CA:
"A brilliant Geminid fell over the Jeep Sculpture in Anza Borrego Springs," recalls Pacholka. "It was a beauty!"
More bright Geminids are in the offing. Perhaps because of its gravelly nature, the shower is rich in fireballs--that is, meteors brighter than the planet Venus. Indeed, last night NASA's network of all-sky meteor cameras captured 23 Geminid fireballs over the United States--numbers that will increase sharply in the nights ahead.
The best time to look is during the dark hours before dawn when the constellation Gemini is high in the sky. [sky map] [photo gallery]
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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A GEMINID BUZZES COMET 46P/WIRTANEN: The radiant of the Geminid meteor shower is not very far from approaching Comet 46P/Wirtanen. Their respective constellations, Gemini and Taurus, are next door neighbors. That means comet photographers can expect to catch some Geminids in their exposures. Indeed, that's exactly what happened to Joe Lawton of Gerald, Missouri, on Dec. 9th. "As I was photographing 46P/Wirtanen, a Geminid meteor blazed across the sky and disintegrated next to the comet!"
"I combined a series of still images to create this video," he explains. "You can see smokey debris from the Geminid meteoroid twisting in the winds of the upper atmosphere and ultimately dissipating."
How often is this happening? (1) Todd Bush of Banner Elk, North Carolina, (2) Harlan Thomas of Powderface Trail, Alberta, and (3) Dr. Paolo Candy of the Cimini Astronomical Observatory in Italy have also caught Geminids streaking past the comet. Images: North Carolina, Alberta, Italy.
Experienced observers report that Comet 46P/Wirtanen is now about as bright as a 5th magnitude star. Stars of that magnitude are visible to the unaided eye, but unlike a star, which concentrates its luminosity in a point, the comet's brightness is spread out over an area twice as wide as a full Moon. This makes it difficult to see naked-eye, but an easy target for digital cameras on tripods. Photographers submitting to our Comet Photo Gallery are having success with 10-to-60 second exposures at ISOs between 1600 and 6400.
Readers, would you like to photograph the comet and the meteor shower at the same time? It can be done during the hours before midnight when Gemini and Taurus are hanging together in the southeastern sky. These sky maps are tailored to that purpose: Dec. 12, Dec. 13. Dec. 14.
