How does your weather forecast look for the night of Sunday December 13? If you have clear skies and moderate temperatures, it will be a great night to get out under the stars and take in the Geminid meteor shower. The predictions are for a very nice event with peak meteors around midnight EST. Darks skies could yield as many as 120 meteors per hour. It is a great event to practice some astronomical photography as well. One technique involves a motorized mount tracking the stars. Simply use a wide angle lens and open your shutter for 30 seconds or longer with the camera pointed to Gemini. You should capture the meteors originating from near the constellation and you can blend all of the images together at the end of the night for a presentation of how many meteors were present over an extended period of time. You can also simply point your camera in the direction of Gemini on a fixed tripod and expose as long as necessary until you capture that bright fireball! Enjoy the event and keep us updated if you get out. Unfortunately, our weather forecast isn't looking too good for Huntington, WV.
For more information please see Sky and Telescopes page on the shower.