The Lonely Geminid

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Apollo XX
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The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Both nights this past weekend were clear, and they were both good for viewing the Geminid meteor shower. I was able to get out late Saturday night and saw about 10 Geminids sail overhead. Sunday night I decided to train a camera on the sky. In the span of four hours and about 240 exposures I saw a few Geminids, but the camera only captured one. Most were very dim and fleeting, so they didn't get captured on the sensor. Here's the one I caught:

Image

Life here in the northeast corridor is an exceedingly busy place, and the air traffic that comes with that busy life means that you're like to get some in your pictures when you do night sky photography. Case in point; over the course of four hours there must've been 100 fights pass through my field of view. You'll note that the vast majority of them were on the same approach path to Logan. The lone meteor captured during that time wound up dead-smack in the constellation Gemini after stacking. Go figure. :lol: To the lower left you'll see Jupiter slicing through the trees.

Image

Have a Merry Christmas.
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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AndyG
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Re: The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by AndyG »

Those are great shots, Mike! It's great to see that Geminid, and I always love seeing your star trail images.

I took my dog out for a walk Saturday after the Xmas party (missed seeing you there!) and saw many meteors, pretty spectacular. They still seemed to be coming at a pretty good frequency Sunday, but definitely a lot fewer than Saturday.
Andy
Bruce D
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Re: The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by Bruce D »

Great shots Mike. The star trail image is very interesting, it looks like you caught a satellite or dimmer meteor almost crossing the bright meteor.

I found the shot quite curious and for a moment couldn't put my finger on why. Then I realized the star trails in the lower right seemed to curve in the opposite direction from the trails in the upper left. For a moment I figured those lower right stars were on the other side of the celestial equator and thus were making arcs around the unseen south celestial pole, but I quickly realized that didn't make sense. Did you use a very wide angle lens that distorted the star trails? Whazzup with that?
Bruce D
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Apollo XX
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Re: The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Thanks guys! Bruce, you were right with your first assumption. The celestial equator runs right through Orion, and the stars in the lower right of the picture are in fact going around the south pole. I do think that the arc is a little exaggerated by the wide angle view of the 12mm lens I was using.

Thanks again for the compliments!
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
Bruce D
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Re: The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by Bruce D »

yuh, but it must be the lens... otherwise, if you look at a star that is clearly arcing around the north pole, and another star at the bottom right that "appears to be arcing around the south pole" the 2 stars appear to change distance between themselves over time... Oh no, This can not be soooo...! Tell me they do not do these things...!
Bruce D
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WCGucfa
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Re: The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by WCGucfa »

Great shots, Mike!!
Keep up the good work!

Bill G.
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Apollo XX
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Re: The Lonely Geminid

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Thanks Bill!
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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