Monday December 13 2021
The best meteor shower of the year has already put on a good show, and it expected to max out tonight December 13th into the early morning of the 14th. The weather will provide us a clear sky, so at best we may see between 50 and 150 meteors per hour.
In this post you can find viewing tips and a LIVE STREAM video from the AllSky7 Network, which cycles through many locations around the US.
This is typically a good showing, aided by a long night, compared to the Presides in August. But you will have to contend with the cold weather.
This year we also have the Waxing Gibbous moon adding additional light to the sky. There is a chance to see the metro shower until Wednesday morning, but the moonlight will play a bigger role then.
The meteors tend to originate from the star Castor, on the edge of the Gemini constellation. This spans the sky through the full dark night hours from east to west.
The most optimal time may be midnight to early morning. You can find this constellation almost directly up a midnight, then shifting to the western horizon by daybreak.
The Waxing Gibbous moon will be sliding down the western sky after midnight, but will have illumination over 79%. It will set just before 3 AM, making the darkest night hours between then and dawn. So early risers may have the best show (in the western sky- which is the direction where the sun sets).
My friend Mike Hankey is an astronomer in Maryland who has often provided work with the American Meteor Society. He has a network of cameras looking to the sky at night, which he utilized last night.
In Maryland’s northern Baltimore County he captured 400 meteors. Here is a sample of what saw. He said tonight could total over 1,000!
If you do not want to brave the cold, or live in an urban area with light pollution, here is that network of cameras that should remain active through the event. Let’s hope the timing works out on screen.
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