* Astronomy

Thank you.

We were wondering about satellites.  I think maybe it was a Geminid.  It seems to fit the description from this other site:

GEMINIDS (maximum December 14, ~4h UT [December 13; 8pmPST or 11pm EST]) (radiant drift map from IMO)



Moon: Full (major interference)



Best viewing windows: Tuesday morning, December 13; the last couple of hours before morning twilight.  Also, the entire night of Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning, December 13/14 after about 8pm local time.



Recommended for:  Dedicated meteor observers, and those who want to learn the hard way.



The Geminids are a beautiful, prolific and reliable shower.  What a shame that their 2005 return has to coincide with Full Moon.  Dry, clear air will help a lot with the lunar glare, but it will be difficult to achieve maximum rates of 20 Geminids/hour even at the best sites. The Moon will be high in the sky for most of the night.  In the last couple of hours before morning twilight, it's fairly low.  During those hours, you may be able to put it behind you and out of your field of view.  During the rest of the night, you'll need to find some way to block the Moon and the bright sky surrounding it without obstructing the rest of your field of view.  I've used objects like my hand, chairs, cars, trees and telescopes to do so during past showers.
 
Geminids are medium-speed meteors.  Most of them don't leave glowing trains, but the brighter ones are often colored (yellow, green and blue are most common).  The shower has a skew rate profile, with activity dropping quickly after maximum.  At the same time, the proportion of bright meteors is higher during and after maximum than on pre-maximum nights.  The Geminids are worth watching for one or two mornings before the peak; there will be slightly less moonlight interference, and some locations will get a short moonless period before morning twilight. 
http://skytour.homestead.com/met2005.html