Get ready for the Geminids as the total number of known Near-Earth objects (NEO’s) exceeds 36,000 and one of these, 2006 WB, which will sale by Earth (no reason to panic) at a comfortable distance on Tuesday November 26.
This 100 metre asteroid is a reminder of the ever-present threat from space and while modern technology provides us with the means to detect these bodies, little has been done to effectively deal with them.
Night Sky: Get ready for the Geminids
Last weekend saw November’s full Moon, or full Beaver Moon, grace our autumn skies, marking the fourth and final supermoon of 2024.
We are due three supermoons in 2025 in October, November, and December. Next month’s full Moon, or Cold Moon, occurs on Sunday December 15.
Venus continues to dominate the western horizon soon after dark
Just watch for a very bright object that should be on view until around 7pm. Venus has been attributed its ‘evening star’ or ‘morning star’ tag because of its relative closeness to us in space, but chiefly because of the dense layer of clouds that shield us viewing its surface, allowing though for a perfect reflecting ‘mirror’ to bounce light from the Sun straight back at Earth.
For a time, Venus stole the limelight from Mars as a place where life, (but not quite as we know it), may exist.
Scientists at MIT, Cardiff University, thought they may have detected what could be determined as a living organism in clouds, a sort of “aerial” life-form.
Much debate followed since the discovery but as it stands, nothing conclusive.
NASA’s planned VERITAS mission
NASA’s planned VERITAS mission early next decade may be able to shed further light on the Venusian possibility.
The annual Geminids meteor shower is underway but it will be several weeks before we encounter peak activity. Generally, the shower can generate high double-figure numbers at its maximum.
ISS Sightings from Newport this weekend
Watch for a slow moving point of light appearing just above the western horizon and setting in the north. During the forthcoming week the ISS should be on view for just about as long as possible across the region.
On Wednesday November 27 at 5.28pm look to the northwest and we should have more than five minutes to track the ISS.
A similar opportunity arises on Friday November 29. There are ten astronauts currently in space; seven onboard the ISS, and three onboard China’s Tiangong Spaces Station.
What is a Geminid?
The Geminids are a prolific meteor shower with 3200 Phaethon (which is thought to be an Apollo asteroid with a “rock comet” orbit.) being the parent body.