Don't Miss The Geminids (December 13 & 14)

As you read this, the planet Earth is about to float through a highway of space debris. As the planet passes through the debris, some of it will enter our atmosphere and burn through the night sky as "shooting stars." This particular shower of shooting stars is known in astronomical circles as the Geminid meteor shower, and Thursday, December 13 and Friday, December 14 are the best times to witness the event (the shower actually begins on December 10, but peaks on these two days). The show will start about mid-evening on both of these nights. For those of you willing to brave the cold of a December night to see the shower, find a dark place (away from the lights of civilization) and simply look up.

The Geminids shower is one of the year's best. Typically, you will see more than 50 meteors an hour. That's almost one each minute! As each meteor falls through our atmosphere, it will travel at about 22 mpg (35 km/h). That's actually pretty slow for a meteor. As it falls, it pushes on the gas in front of it and compresses it...very quickly. This compression causes the gas and the meteor to heat up. The temperature of the meteor can reach as high as 3,000 degrees F 91,650 degrees C). At that temperature, the meteor is so hot that it actually glows. That's why we can see the meteor (or shooting star) as it moves across the sky.

The Geminids are different than other meteor showers in that they seem to have been spawned from a mysterious object called 3200 Phaethon; not from a comet (astronomers have not decided if Phaeton is an asteroid or the nucleus of a burned out comet). Phaeton crosses Earth's orbit and leaves behind the debris trail that creates the Geminids. The meteors are named for the constellation Gemini (The Twins). If you were to trace the meteors flight backwards through the sky, you’d find them streaming from a single point in the sky. This point, called the radiant point, lies close to Gemini’s bright star, Castor.

Try to catch a glimpse of the shower if you can. For more information on watching the Geminids, try this site: Top 10 tips for 2007 Geminid meteor shower.

Toyota Tapestry Grant

Are you an outstanding educator who is making a difference by demonstrating excellence and creativity in science teaching? If so...you may be eligible to win a Toyota TAPESTRY Grant! Since 1991, the Toyota Motor Sales, USA and the National Science Teachers Association has awarded more than $7.5 million to 908 teams of teachers for innovative science classroom projects. The goal of the program, the nation's largest science teacher grant program, is to inspire teachers and serve as a catalyst for lifetime science learning.

From the NSTA Website:

The Toyota TAPESTRY Grants for Science Teachers program offers grants to K–12 science teachers for innovative projects that enhance science education in the school and/or school district. 50 large grants and a minimum of 20 mini-grants, totaling $550,000 in all, will be awarded this year. To apply for funding, qualified teachers must write a Toyota TAPESTRY proposal according to the proposal requirements. The deadline for the completion of the online application is 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday, January 28, 2008. Recipients of Toyota TAPESTRY grants will be notified by March 4, 2008. Non-recipients will be notified by May 31, 2008. Awardees will be honored at a special ceremony on March 27, 2008 at the NSTA National Conference in Boston. All travel expenses for Project Directors of the large grants will be covered by Toyota.

In the past, teachers have been awarded between $10,000 and $2,500 from the Toyota TAPESTRY Grant Program. You could do some really exciting science with that kind of money. For more information about the Toyota Tapestry Grants, check out these websites:

Toyota TAPESTRY Grant Website
TAPESTRY Project Websites