Star Points for December, 1998; by Curtis Roelle Last Major Meteor Shower of 1998 Tonight While last month's predicted Leonid meteor storm did not come to pass some astronomers are holding out hope that the storm will materialize in 1999. George Gliba of the Greenbelt Astronomy Club is a meteor authority and co-discover of a Summer meteor shower known as the Aries-Triangulids. At a banquet for amateur astronomers in Westminster last week he stated his own prediction that Israel will be the favored terrestrial location for next year's hoped for Leonid storm. George and his wife Lynne had traveled to Hawaii in hopes of viewing last month's Leonids. However, the peak apparently occurred 16 hours earlier than predicted thus favoring the Atlantic Ocean region. December has a delightful meteor shower of its own. The Geminid shower peaks at midnight tonight, Sunday December 13, and continues until morning twilight on Monday. In his Astronomical Calendar, Guy Ottewell describes the Geminids as "one of the very best major showers presently visible from Earth." The waning crescent Moon will interfere ever so slightly when it rises shortly after 3:00 a.m. The meteoroids which make up the Geminid shower are associated with the Apollo asteroid known as 3200 Phaeton. Apollo asteroids have orbits which carry them closer in to the Sun than the planet Venus. Although entertaining the Geminids should not threaten the new International Space Station (ISS). The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour currently on mission STS-88 has linked up its Unity module payload with the Russian-built Zarya module as construction started on the $60 billion space station complex. Fortunately, Westminster will have excellent viewing opportunities on Monday and Tuesday morning. On Monday morning ISS, the six astronauts, and the attached Endeavour spacecraft will exit earth's shadow as it suddenly appears low in the north-northeast at 5:30 a.m. It will look like a slowly moving bright star-like object. The station will travel downward to the right until it sets below the eastern horizon five minutes later. At its closest approach to Westminster the space station will be more than 1,000 kilometers away along the line-of- sight. Tuesday's appearance is even better. The space station will become visible about 1/4 of the way up in the northwestern sky as it emerges from the earth's shadow at 6:09 a.m. It continues climbing higher traveling from left-to-right until it is more than half-way between horizon and zenith in the northeastern sky at 6:11 a.m. It will appear brighter than on the previous morning due to its closer distance to the observer. It then gets fainter while steadily descending toward the eastern horizon where it sets at 6:16 a.m. If you have access to the world wide web you may find satellite viewing information, schedules, and links to other sites at my Birdwatch web page at http://www.erols.com/roelle/birdwatch/. I would be interested in reading your comments on the Geminids or on observing the ISS. As always your e-mail is welcome at StarPointsUSA@yahoo.com.