Cosmos Alert: Spectacular Meteor Shower and Total Lunar Eclipse to Dazzle December Sky

originally posted on the daily galaxy.com

On the evening of 13 and the morning of 14 December, skywatchers across the northern hemisphere will be looking up as the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak, in one of the best night sky events of the year. And unlike many astronomical phenomena, meteors are best seen without a telescope (and are perfectly safe to watch).
At its peak and in a clear, dark sky up to 100 'shooting stars' or meteors may be visible each hour. Meteors are the result of small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed, burning up and super-heating the air around them, which shines as a characteristic short-lived streak of light. In this case the debris is associated with the asteroidal object 3200 Phaethon, which many astronomers believe to be an extinct comet.




The meteors appear to originate from a 'radiant' in the constellation of Gemini, hence the name Geminid. By 02:00 GMT on 14 December the radiant will be almost overhead in the U.K., making it ideally placed for British observers. By that time the first quarter Moon will have set, so the prospects for a good view of the shower are excellent.

Meteors in the Geminid shower are less well known, probably because the weather in December is less reliable. But those who brave the cold can be rewarded with a fine view. In comparison with other showers, Geminid meteors travel fairly slowly, at around 35 km (22 miles) per second, are bright and have a yellowish hue, making them distinct and easy to spot.

This year the peak of the Geminid meteor shower occurs at around 11:00 GMT on 14 December, but the highest level activity is spread over a period lasting a day or more. This means that if conditions are clear it is worthwhile observing at any time between Sunday night and Wednesday morning.

As with most astronomical events, the best place to see meteors is at dark sites away from the light pollution of towns and cities. In good weather, rural sites such as Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park in Scotland (where a planned meteor watch will take place on 13-14 December) are potentially excellent locations to see the Geminid shower.

The Geminids will also feature in a Twitter event, Meteorwatch, supported by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), where observers under clear skies can post their text, images and videos to share them with those in less favorable locations. Anyone with Internet access can join in by following @virtualastro and the #meteorwatch hashtag on Twitter.

The last total lunar eclipse occurred on Feb. 20, 2008. While there are two total lunar eclipses in 2011, North American skywatchers will have to wait until April 2014 for one as potentially spectacular as the eclipse occurring this month.

For the Western Hemisphere, the eclipse will begin on Dec. 21 at 12:29 a.m. EST (9:29 p.m. PST on Dec. 20) as the moon begins to enter Earth's outer, or penumbral, shadow. This total lunar eclipse lasts only 72 minutes from start to finish.

Skywatchers will not notice any changes in the moon's appearance until about 45 minutes into the event, when a slight "smudge," or shading, begins to become evident on the upper left portion of the moon's disk.

The entire total lunar eclipse will be visible from all of North and South America, the northern and western parts of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan.

Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii. In all, an estimated 1.5 billion people will have an opportunity to enjoy the best part of this lunar show.
In other parts of the world, only the partial stages of the eclipse will be visible or the eclipse will occur when it's daytime and the moon is not above their local horizon.

Portions of western Africa and central Europe can catch the opening stages of the eclipse before the moon sets below the horizon during the morning hours of Dec. 21, while the eastern third of Asia and central and eastern Australia can catch the closing stages just after moonrise on the evening of Dec. 21.

December's total lunar eclipse and Geminid meteor shower promise to ring the year 2010 out with a dazzling show, weather permitting, this holiday season.

New Videos & Meditations for 12-12

"Please use this meditation as often as you like.
Begin by taking some clearing breaths.
Feel yourself begin to relax.

We call together All the Beings of Light as we embark on this journey.

Please close your eyes and feel the third eye, between your brows, open up. Imagine a multi-petalled lotus blossom opening up and up and up. Go deeper into the center of the flower and as each petal blossoms see light flowing out of the petals.

Now feel your crown chakra opening at the top of your head. Feel the crown dilating and the crown opens wide. It is as a launch pad to the dimension of formless form.

When you see inside the open crown there is a SpaceCraft waiting for you and beyond that is
the blinding light of the antimatter Universe.

We are leaving our Earth bodies behind, just for a very short time and we are safely flying together
in this craft past the 13th Gateway from Matter to Antimatter.

As we enter this space we see light and more light. We zoom up up up through the dimensions and we come to a Pyramid Temple. The sunlight here is very bright and feels warm and pleasant. We now walk inside the Pyramid.

When we go inside we see we are standing on a crystal which is made of light. There are rainbow light colors reflecting off this crystal in the floor and projecting rainbow colored rays on the walls of the pyramid inside. We are all standing there and smiling, enjoying the beautiful light and some notice the gentle angel song.

Now look up into the apex of the Pyramid Temple and you see there is another crystal which is the capstone of the pyramid. This crystal which is made of light has many facets and there is sunlight pouring through the capstone onto the floor. There is brilliant bright sunlight flooding this place and connecting with the rainbow light which is in the floor.

We all bask in this light together.

This Pyramid Temple is a portal of Creation. We come here together to amplify the 12:12 StarGate Love Portal of light and love sent to Earth now.

We begin by Welcoming Mother Sekhmet to join with us here. She has requested we join here now, so any who desire this, may have a Healing Session with her. All you must do is ask and allow. She will facilitate this healing for you.

Feel Mother Sekhmet reach down into your core. She can do this for everyone at once. See her paw reaching deep deep down inside of you and taking hold of your core fear. As she holds it, she finds the very origin of it and cuts it out and removes it. She lovingly releases your core fear to the void beyond the void and it returns to Source. Your Core Fear is now gone. It is dissolved and you are free to become a new you. When we leave this place, you are free and you need not carry that with you anymore. Thank you Mother Sekhmet, We Love You. She wrinkles her nose, smiling and Blessing us each One.

As we breath in and relax deeper now, we join our thoughts together. There is love flowing from one heart to the next and on out back to Earth. We breath in love into the three fold flame of our heart. With this we feel a new reverence for all life in the trifold flame of our solar heart.

With deep gratitude we join with St Germain, Sanat Kumara, Ashtar, and their Twin Flames, and all the Kumaras, as we experience the violet flame going out over all of Earth. We now experience the Oneness with All That Is and we become Love and we attract to ourselves and into our Lives and
the life of every living Being Love, Wisdom, Bliss, Abundance, Enlightenment, Eternal Peace, Harmony, Balance, and Joy.

We carry these attributes and with them we find our Own Path on the Master Plan. With these attributes we Co-Create a Consensus Reality of Terra Nova.

Mother Sekhmet is here with us now. From her is flowing the Divine Love from Mother God.
It is flowing freely to each one of us. As we reach up and stretch to greater service we grasp higher the majestic force of Love flowing from her and into our lives. We embrace this sacred knowledge and we ask she teach us how to share this love in service to each other.

It is with this Love we Co-Create a New World together. We Create, here in this sacred place, with all our Brothers and Sisters of Light, and in all the hearts of humanity, Peace, Awakening, Empowerment, Unity, and More Love.

We join together to return to Earth. We are healed, restored, balanced and ready to move forward in Love. When we return from the place we left we return to see All of Earth is flooded with Light and Flooded With Love. She is new and we now remember our true identity and we love being on Terra Nova together. With our solar heart flames blazing we go forward with Divine Gratitude for what we have accomplished together.

And So It IS, Now.

~ADMIRAL SANANDA KUMARA

Beth and Mark
www.GalacticRoundTable.com"

music by Kelly Howell