Thursday, December 13, 2012

Look To The Skies

There is nothing quite like a December sunrise and sunset. I'm not sure why they appear to be so vibrant this time of year, but they are certainly breathtaking as they will often color the entire sky in beautiful shades of orange, red, and blue.

As you look to the skies this time of year and reflect on your many blessings, you may not want to miss the Geminid Meteor Shower which peaks tonight and tomorrow night.

The Geminid Meteor Shower takes place annually when the Earth passes through the debris tail of asteroid Phaethon. According to this source, most meteor showers originate from comets which spew tiny chunks of ice into our planet's atmosphere.  I'm not even going to pretend to know what that means, but apparently for the first time, Earth is expected to pass through another comet, therefore increasing the meteor shower activity up to 30 meteors per hour!


So grab something warm and head outdoors between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. to experience this spectacular light show. But before you head out, you may want to check Spot The Station, to see when the International Space Station passes over your house. The ISS flies more than 200 miles above the ground, with people living and working on it. It is quite a thrill (in a geeky kind of way) to view the ISS at a precise time in the night sky. Click on the link, and NASA's Spot The Station will give you the viewing schedule for your area. Go ahead try it - - it's free and totally nerdy cool! 

2 comments:

Jan n Jer said...

What a gorgeous sunset...I was too lazy to get my camera n go outside. Now you can tell me all about the meteor shower for I will be snugly in my warm bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head!!!

betty said...

I didn't know this about the meteor shower; might have to check it out! I looked outside today and we did have a beautiful sunset; it is interesting about this time of year and them; but I always do love a good sunrise and sunset!

betty

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