copyright: Wally Pacholka / AstroPics.com / TWAN "It was a monster fireball," says photographer Wally Pacholka. "I caught it exploding over the Hercules Finger rock formation near Victorville, California, using a Canon 35 mm camera. This was one of 1522 photographs I took "
The fireball occurred during the Geminid meteor shower, which peaked on Dec. 13th and 14th when Earth passed through a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon. In some places, people saw 200+ Geminids per hour. In the Mojave desert, one was enough!
We missed most of the Geminid meteor shower while we were in Rapid City Sunday night because it was overcast and snowing (also very, very cold). However, when we got home on Monday night, Mel stopped "at the top of the hill" and I got out of the car and stood beside the road, just to look at the stars. Beautiful! And to make it even more wonderful, just as I finished snapping my coat shut I looked up and blazing across the night sky, from directly above me to the west horizon, was a beautiful meteor. It wasn't as big as this one, but it was a very nice one indeed!
Last night it was cloudy here, but I think it should be clear tonight. I asked Mel the other night if we could drive over to the top of Wilkerson Pass where there would be less light pollution from Denver and Colorado Springs. Maybe, if it really is clear, and we aren't too tired, and have the time, maybe we'll drive over there tonight or tomorrow night and I can feast my eyes on the heavens for as long as the cold will let me. :-)
Oh, and a little update on that weird thing over Norway which I posted a photo of a few posts down - it was apparently a Russian rocket that exploded and fell back to earth, not doing what it was actually supposed to do. Whatever it was, it sure was weird and interesting.
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