When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower

Tripoto
15th Dec 2018
Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra
Day 1

When you see the sky and stars changing positions overnight..
The Orion's Belt and the Taurus Fight ..
Rising from the East
and shifting towards West
to let the Gemini Constellation reach the Zenith's Height..

The starry Night Pic Credits : Abhinav Dubey

Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

When you are there overnight,
under the sky,
with meteors shooting their way out of the Constellation Gemini,
you are bound to catch one in one of the stills
when meteors know your wishes and wills..

The Geminid Meteor Pic Credits :Abhinav Dubey

Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

The Geminid Meteor captured in our pic Pic Credits: Abhinav Dubey

Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

           Geminid Meteor Shower is an annual astronomical event that happens every year in December and peaks sometime in the mid. On the D-Day (the peak hours) one can spot as many as 100 meteors per hour falling right from the sky provided the Light Pollution is at its minimum.
             As the sky keeps on shifting above us, the meteors continue to appear and vanish in all directions. It's like the Heavens are celebrating their own Festival of lights and firecrackers sometime after the Indian festival of Diwali and just before the Christmas.
             For a theist, it might be an experience where the world of God and the world of Man are in approximate synchronization in their festivities while others are bound to be awestruck at the vast wonders of the Universe.
             We began our enchanted experience last year when we first read about this annual astro-phenomenon on the official NASA website. However, after wandering for 5 hours amongst the city lights and the light pollution all we could spot were around 30-50 meteors.
              Even then, it left us mesmerized with its colourful content.The meteor were not just a silver lining fading in the darkness of the night but also sometimes flickering with red, green and blue hues. The color of light that the meteors produce depends on their chemical composition.Meteors made from primarily calcium will give off a purple or violet color, while those made out of magnesium will appear to have a green or teal color, the red one might have nitrogen or oxygen, the orange one is perhaps having Sodium and the yellow colour comes from iron as they enter the earth's atmosphere. Spotting the differently coloured meteors became a sport for the lone wanderers that we are and we decided to go for a planned astro expedition.
              It was then that we came across #Team_astrowanderer this year.
We immediately booked our places in for 15 th midnight meteor shower. #Team_astrowanderer made us, wanderers, feel at home with their efficiency. They arranged for the pick and drop service from Delhi to Sariska Jungle Camp which was the site for sightseeing.
              Our group was a heterogeneous one ranging from the first time travellers to the couples and extending beyond to the kids and the elderly all united by the single trait of being the #astro-enthusiasts. We were introduced with each other and after the initial refreshments and relaxations our #astro-tour began at sundown with an introductory workshop acquainting us with the basics of astronomy, telescopic spotting and astrophotography.
                At twilight, we all were ready, armed with our torches, covered with red cellophine sheets to read the Sky Map accurately. Any confusions in this reading were clarified by the organisers through their laser pointers positing the stars and constellations clearly against the vast canvas of the sky.
               Soon we were taught to tune and focus the telescope through which each of us took turns to watch
1. the Moon's craters,
2. Orion Nebula
3. Comet 46P popularly known as Wirtanen,

                Apart from the above, we distinguished 1. complete orion constellation,
2.taurus,
3. gemini,
4.perseus,
5.andromeda,
6. Pegasus,
7.cassiopeia and many more
through our naked eyes while at the same time cheering over the falling meteors that seem to register their witness to this memorable night.

Photo of Jungle Camp Sariska, Rajasthan State Highway 25A, Doroli, Rajasthan, India by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

There was then a bonfire to melt our freezing bodies as well as to lose ourselves in the zeal of our newly formed friends. There were songs and singing along and soon we forgot that we had been introduced to each other just a few hours ago.

Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra
Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra
Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

                  Soon after our Dinner at the resort, we restored our stargazing session where the  organisers zealously offered to click some memorable pictures for each one of us without disturbing the darkness around.
                 It was due to the hard work of Team AstroWanderers that this once in a lifetime kind of experience will now become our annual tradition for sure. They left no stones unturned in making this trip an informative as well as an entertaining one.

Pic Credits: Team AstroWanderers

Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

Pic Credits: Team AstroWanderers

Photo of When It Rains Stars : Geminid Meteor Shower by Bespectacled_adventurer@Nishtha Mishra

P.S. We spotted 150-200 Meteors this year and then lost the count.
#Bespectacled_adventurer
© Nishtha Mishra, 2018