(meteorobs) Insult to injury for the Geminids

[Skywayinc at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/11/2008 2:09:39 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
bmccurdy at telusplanet.net writes:
 
The only good news is that the Moon near perigee is absolutely speeding  
eastward (and slightly south as well), which has a retarding effect on  
moonrise times in subsequent days. Thus the tiny window for early evening  
earth-grazers on Sunday that Joe Rao mentioned. 


 
-----------------------------------------------------
Here is my Night Sky column (at SPACE.com) detailing  this year's Geminid 
shower.  
 
As Bruce McCurdy of the RASC notes, it's actually the  closest perigee 
between 1993 and 2016. It's a "perfect storm" of a Full Moon  occurring near 
both lunar perigee and Earth's perihelion.  And with  this large, bright Moon 
passing
through Gemini on the peak night of the shower, it does  not bode well for 
those hoping
for a look at this year's "Gems."
 
And yes . . . there is indeed a small window of dark sky  on Sunday evening, 
between the end
of astronomical twilight and moonrise; roughly an hour  for those at 
midnorthern
latitudes, but getting noticeably shorter as you head  north.
 
_http://www.space.com/spacewatch/081212-ns-geminid-meteor-shower.html_ 
(http://www.space.com/spacewatch/081212-ns-geminid-meteor-shower.html) 
 
-- joe r.
 
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