Urban Outcast Music #18: Brace for Impact by Sturgill Simpson.
Zipping through space at 45,000 mph is a modest rock a few kilometers in diameter, romantically called 3200 Phaethon (For passing closest to the sun of any named asteroid). It doesn't look like much but it's dragging a train of debris which brings us the Geminid meteor showers every December. Catching a meteor shower in Seattle in December has never been on my radar for obvious reasons but when a particularly bright specimen penetrated the city haze during the dog's morning constitutional, the wheels started spinning.
As luck would have it the stars aligned: that evening was estimated to bring peak activity, I was headed to the coast for work, and it wasn't dumping rain. Lacking an obvious mountain to climb, I headed to one of my favorite razor clamming beaches. Within 30 minutes I had surpassed my lifetime shooting star tally and a new one buzzed by every minute or two. The Geminid's are rock/metal meteors so there is the potential to see colors as the different metals burn but I think the humidity on the beach was cutting down on peak visibility. Even so, if you get the chance to stargaze with the breakers rolling in the background, take it. Just be sure to park well up on the sand...
The phone wasn't up to the task of capturing the action. With a max of 10 second exposures, I have a lot of pictures that look exactly like the one above... So you all get off easy on this round but I promise the next post will compensate.
P.S. As grinches are prone to do, I stole some Xmas spirit. These folks had a thing for inflatable dachshunds so they were definitely asking for it. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
