Night of the Geminids

Of course it was cloudy during one of the best meteor storms of the year. Using the word 'best' for an event which is guaranteed to freeze various bodily parts is maybe a bit masochistic, but that's how we amateur astronomers are.

Seeing the cloudwatch chart above immediately tells you I will try to plug the website and yes indeed, this shows the cloud chart during the night of the Geminids. Small clearing just before midnight, and then all clear skies around 5:00 in the morning. This happens a lot, clouds dissipating around 4:00 to 5:00 in the morning. A fellow amateur astronomer and mailman (who has to get up alot around this hour) says that indeed he has noticed this as well.

For the brave: leave your PC on and configure the alarm to sound between 4:00 and 5:00 if it's clear. Try not to anger the spouse though :)

clear skies,
Mike