Brightness Falls From The Air

December is a good month for falling things, like meteors. And shadows. Definitely a good month for shadows.

Falling things

Monday night/Tuesday morning in the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. Of late, the Geminids have been more dependable than the Perseids (the other main shower, in August) in producing reliable high counts of meteors, up to 120 per hour under ideal conditions.

This year, the moon (one day past first quarter) will set at about 1:00 AM, but even when it’s up, the Geminids have produced some fine displays of very bright meteors earlier in the evening. I’ve personally seen some fireballs that looked like roman candles.

If you can, fortify yourself with some hot coffee or chocolate, get a comfortable lawn chair and a dark sky, and if the weather cooperates, you’ll observe a fine display.

If you’re interested in trying for some pictures, you’ll need a camera that’s capable of time exposures (AKA the “Bulb” setting). What I would do is set the camera on a tripod, point it east (the direction of the shower’s radiant) and let it go for five minute exposures. There’s no guarantee, but if you’re lucky, you might catch some of the brighter meteors.


Now, the next Monday night, December 20/21, we’ll have a beautiful total lunar eclipse. We haven’t had one in a while, and we won’t get another one this good until 2014.

You’ll have to stay up late — totality doesn’t begin until 1:41 AM — but even the partial phases are fun to watch. Binoculars will provide an excellent view. I’m always amazed at how three-dimensional the partially eclipsed moon looks in binoculars.

The moon appears much smoother in the partial phase, because unlike the regular phases of the moon where we’re seeing it illuminated from the side, the light is coming straight on. Therefore we don’t see the sharp relief of craters and mountains that we do during a first quarter moon.


As the moon goes into totality, it’ll start to turn red. This is because the sunlight is being refracted through the earth’s atmosphere and the light of all the world’s sunsets is illuminating the moon. Plus, as the light from the moon fades, more and more stars will come into view.

If you have a digital camera with a good telephoto lens, set it up on a tripod, point it at the moon, and leave it on automatic. If you’re more experienced with photography, try bracketing the exposures and ISO to see what works best for you.


The title of this post is from the James Tiptree, Jr. novel Brightness Falls From the Air.

This is an unusual science fiction novel by an unusual author. The story concerns several disparate individuals who gather together on a planet to witness the rising of a man-made nova. As the wavefront of the nova’s light washes over them, strange things happen to the flow of time. Also, the people (human and alien) at this meeting have a deep and sometimes violent history together.

Under the hands of a lesser writer, this would have been fraught with melodrama. But Tiptree handles it well, and the story is filled with wonder, heartbreak, and horror.

James Tiptree, Jr. was the pseudonym for the late Alice Sheldon. When she started writing science-fiction in the 60’s, it was a field dominated by men. While it had been suspected that Tiptree was a pen name, it wasn’t thought that the author was female. Her gender was a matter of debate until her real name was revealed in the late 70’s.

She continued to write until her death in 1987.

Steve Clayworth