(meteorobs) Geminid peak night photos

Mike Hankey mike.hankey at gmail.com
Wed Dec 29 01:21:01 EST 2010


Fantastic images Pierre. I especially like the composites. Incredible.

On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 5:43 PM, Pierre Martin <pmartin at teksavvy.com> wrote:
> Here's my photo results for the 2010 Geminids (December 13/14, 2010)
> at Deerlick Astronomy Village (DAV) in Georgia (U.S.A.)
>
> I first spent a couple of hours trying to photograph some of the early
> evening activity, well before the moonset.  The Geminids sometimes
> produce long and spectacular earthgrazers, the result of meteors
> skimming the upper atmosphere while the radiant is near the horizon.
> I had the camera aiming to the north, towards Ursa Minor - hoping to
> capture some in that direction.  The First Quarter Moon was still high
> up at this time, and it lit up the sky a fair amount.  We could easily
> see the surroundings without any light.  Although the camera did not
> catch any earthgrazers, three bright Geminids eventually passed
> through near Ursa Minor.  This is a composite of three 75 seconds
> exposures, taken with a Canon 7D at ISO1250 and a Canon 15mm f/2.8
> Fisheye lens, setup on a Vixen GPDX equatorial mount.  The image was
> cropped in Photoshop:
>
> http://pmartin.smugmug.com/Other/2010-Geminids/15225791_qciLa#1139136599_htgH2-O-LB
>
> As soon as my desired field of view (the bright winter constellations)
> was high enough in the east, I re-positioned my camera (Canon 7D at
> ISO1600 and a Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens) and I set it for
> continuous one minute exposures from 10 pm and 6 am.  Out of several
> hundreds of exposures, a total of 90 Geminids were captured within
> this field of view.  All of the exposures with meteors were later
> digitally co-added into Photoshop to create the following composite.
> The best meteor of the night (the Geminid that split in two) was
> partly captured by the camera.  It's the bright streak near the bottom-
> right corner.  It actually travelled a long distance and was
> significantly brighter far beyond the frame:
>
> http://pmartin.smugmug.com/Other/2010-Geminids/15225791_qciLa#1139136862_8jEEo-O-LB
>
> I also had a Canon 300D at ISO800 and a Canon 24mm f/1.4 mkII lens
> (stopped at f/2.0), setup on the Vixen GPDX mount.  This camera was
> aimed towards Orion and Taurus, and also exposed continuous one minute
> exposures between 10 pm and 6 am.  A total of 37 Geminids were
> captured, and digitally co-added for this composite.  The 24mm lens
> has a smaller field of view, so it doesn't tend to capture quite as
> many meteors (as the 15mm fisheye lens) but the gain is better
> definition:
>
> http://pmartin.smugmug.com/Other/2010-Geminids/15225791_qciLa#1139809989_kgU4Y-X2-LB
>
> Moving on to the end of the night... Here's a single 1 minute
> exposure, taken after 6 am taken with the Canon 7D at ISO1600 and
> Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens.  (The tracking was turned off at this
> point, to keep the camera aimed into the western sky for a few more
> exposures while Raymond and I were asleep).  It shows a single Geminid
> passing near the open star cluster M48:
>
> http://pmartin.smugmug.com/Other/2010-Geminids/15225791_qciLa#1139225099_vVLnd-X2-LB
>
> Single 1 minute exposure, taken with the Canon 7D at ISO1600 and Canon
> 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens shows a bright Geminid passing in Canes Major:
>
> http://pmartin.smugmug.com/Other/2010-Geminids/15225791_qciLa#1139822937_hNxKY-XL-LB
>
> Another single 1 minute exposure, taken with the Canon 300D at ISO800
> and Canon 24mm f/1.4 mkII lens shows a bright Geminid passing near the
> star Procyon:
>
> http://pmartin.smugmug.com/Other/2010-Geminids/15225791_qciLa#1139827893_2FRWf-XL-LB
>
> The Geminids are attractive and colorful meteors... a breathtaking
> sight, especially when seen darting across the Milky Way and the
> bright winter constellations.  My favorite of all the annual showers :)
>
> Clear skies!
>
> Pierre Martin
> Ottawa, Ontario
>
>
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