Fri, Dec 13 2013 - Fri the 13th Early Bird Hike: The Geminid Meteor Shower! (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Charlie Cottingham Participants: Charlie Cottingham, James M, Armin, Ramesh, Sourav, howard, Janelle, donna j, Garrett, DaveO

Hurrah for the Geminids!  They proved that even here in the middle of metro Atlanta we can enjoy spectacular heavenly "stuff"!  We saw more than 20 bright meteors including a brilliant "fireball" that streaked across the sky.  Most were obviously "true Geminids," seeming to originate from from near the "twin stars," Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini and "peaking" each year on Dec 13-14.
  A tip of the hat to nine fellow hardy AOCers who joined me in Mason Mill Park at 5:30 AM and didn't let the "triple whammy" of "Early, Sub-freezing, and Friday the 13th" dissuade them from enjoying this outing - including Donna, for whom this was her very first AOC event!  Special thanks to James who suggested at the Holiday Social the other night that we observe the
Geminids together. 
  Besides the nice meteors we also had clear views of numerous fast-moving satellites - plus Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Polaris, Sirius, Arcturus, Spica, Orion, Leo and the Big & Little Dipper. According to my Astronomy Club friends the very bright satellite that we saw at about 6:30 would've been either either the "COSMOs SkyMed2" or a "flare" of the "Iridium 50" satellite.
  -Submitted by Charlie, 7:45 AM Friday