is there any known meteor showers tonight?

hello apologies first as this isnt much exciting but i am wondering if anyone knows of any meteor showers tonight.

Im the in UK its monday night at 00:26 hours. Reason im asking is i out for a smoke by my front door and i was looking at the sky in a north west directon and i can see some strange streaks of light now and again, the lights are not very bright but noticable even with a street lap in my view. I did wonder if it could be ice particles reflecting in the street lamp as we have had alot of snow recently, but the majority of it has melted and the sky is clear. There is a weather system moving in from the north but its still quite far away. My location is the south of england about 30 miles east of london.

Thanks for any infomation and sorry again for now posting something exciting and new

The Geminids are expected to be the best of the year. They originate from the North, but extend over the entire sky - the best will be 90 degrees from the origin,or almost overhead.

They will reach their peak next week, but the meteors have already started. They are the remnants of an asteroid, of all things, but are consistently rivals of the Leonids.

Yes, the Geminids.

probably could have gotten a quicker answer if you asked google.. lol

But yes,
and the geminids are usually very good!
Many say the best of the year!
and I can't disagree. lol

oops, brother jdub beat me to it. lol

You can get a list of meteor showers every year. I love them! Nothing better than meteor showers, my telescopes and a midnight picnic! Greatest of fun!

aah thank you for your answers i was looking at a relatively high angle too. yes i could of googled it but maybe providing this thread (depending on how long it lasts) might allow others to look on here if they see the same as to what i saw. plus also i thought id get a faster response on ATS but indeed thank you for your replies ill be looking up a bit more often then in the next week or so.

Originally posted by ThePeaceMaker
i am wondering if anyone knows of any meteor showers tonight.

Actually there are quite a few showers active right now, and this is a very busy time of year for meteor showers as well as for random or sporadic meteors.

These showers are all active right now:
December Phoenicids
Northern Taurids
November Orionids
Monocerotids
Geminids
Puppid-Velids
Sigma Hydrids
December Leonis Minorids
Psi Ursa Majorids
December Kappa Draconids

You could expect to see around 10-12 meteors per hour from a rural observing site. It's doubtful that you would see that many from any place close to London, especially with street lights in your view.

Although the Geminids are a major meteor shower at peak, this far before peak you would only expect to see one or two every hour under ideal conditions and with all round unobstructed views of the horizon.

Click here for activity graphs of the previous years showers from the International Meteor Organization.

I think it's much more likely that what you saw was ice crystals. There have been reports of ice crystals in the air in recent days. I saw some myself a couple of nights ago. They looked like a fine mist of water droplets close to the lights, but away from the lights they created streaks that looked a little to me like light reflecting off spider silk.

What was the temperature at the time, and how often were you seeing the streaks of light? Also, were the streaks straight or fairly random? Meteors will almost always appear to be traveling along a straight trajectory.

Why not grab a sleeping bag or two and head away from the lights on the Geminid peak night (Monday the 13th) or even the next night (which should also be quite good)? so you can compare what you saw to known meteors The best rates are usually some time after midnight, and if you are lucky, there will be very few dull moments. It's probably the most dependable meteor shower of the year, and recent years have all seen good rates, so there is a good chance the trend will continue this year. Either way, good luck.