Space Weather News for Dec. 12, 2010
http://spaceweather.com

> GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: The Geminid meteor shower peaks this year on Dec. 13th and 14th.  Forecasters say meteor rates could exceed 100 per hour for observers under dark rural skies.  For best results, start your meteor watch on Monday night, Dec. 13th, around midnight.  Keep an eye out for Geminids until sunrise on Tuesday, Dec. 14th. There's no special trick to seeing the Geminids.  Bundle up for maximum warmth, go outside, lie down and look up. Geminids can appear in any part of the sky, but all their tails will point back to the radiant in the constellation Gemini.  Check http://spaceweather.com for updates, images and a sky map.

> SPIRAL ASTEROID:  Put this in the "weird" category.  Main belt  asteroid (596) Scheila has suddenly developed an apparently spiral-shaped tail. The surprising structure might be a result of a recent asteroid-asteroid collision, or perhaps a sign that this asteroid is really a comet.  An image of Scheila is featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.