(meteorobs) Geminid peak night photos

[Koen Miskotte]

Fantastic pictures Pierre!
And what a journey you made to see the Geminids. It is certainly not strange 
to travel that far for one night,
because the Geminids are the most beautiful meteorstream there is.
Good luck with the Quandrantids!
Regards, Koen


-----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- 
From: Pierre Martin
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:43 PM
To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
Subject: (meteorobs) Geminid peak night photos

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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