Join the World in Looking for Geminids This Weekend with #MeteorWatch

By Nancy Atkinson - December 11, 2009 at 4:02 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Amateur astronomers around the world will be watching for what is predicted to be one of the year's best meteor showers, the Geminids. Join in and make it a global experience with another #Meteorwatch on Twitter. #Meteorwatch, which occurred during the Perseid meteor shower in mid-August, is a social media astronomical event that was a big hit among Twitterers. But there's lots of ways to join in, not only on Twitter. Everyone is welcome whether they are an astronomer or just have an interest in the night sky. The aim is to get as many people to look up as possible and maybe see meteors or even some fireballs for the first time.

Headed by Adrian West (

@AdrianWest

), the

@NewburyAS

Twitter account is the central hub. During #MeteorWatch, look/search for Tweets with the #Moonwatch hashtag to see images and information or have your questions answered.

Watch the video above for more information, or just go to Twitter and follow

@AdrianWest

, the

@NewburyAS,

or others listed in the video.

You can also get #Meteorwatch updates on

Astronomy.fm

which will be featuring "MeteorWatch Central", Sunday night, Dec 13/14, with live imaging of deep sky objects in Gemini, as well as all-sky meteor watching, meteor-Ping listening, live call-in meteor-watching updates, and audio/visual presentations that will give you tips on meteors and meteor watching. Amateur astronomers around the world will be watching what is predicted to be one of the year's best meteor showers, the Geminids. Join in and make it a global experience with another #Meteorwatch on Twitter.

The shower's peak is around 05:00 Universal Time on the morning of December 14, but shooting stars should be visible for a night or perhaps two either side of this time. It is difficult to accurately predict how many streaks will be visible, but estimates place the figure as high as 100 to 120 per hour for observers under completely dark skies during the peak of activity. This number will drop dramatically if light pollution becomes a factor, but bright trails should still be visible.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com