geminids Archives - Craig Rogers Photography

More Geminids!

15th December 201815th December 2018Craig Rogers

It was a last-minute decision to set the camera up tonight (or should I actually say this morning!) and only because I saw quite a few bright slow-moving Meteors streaming across the skies.

As I didn’t have any plans, I decided to just stand in front of the camera for one of the shots. This photo is made up of a selection of photos from the camera taking a 15 sec exposure every 17 seconds for 45 minutes. As you can see, there were plenty of “Shooting Stars” coming across the skies tonight!

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Geminid Meteor Show To Peak Tonight & Tomorrow Night

13th December 201813th December 2018Craig Rogers

Every year in December we are treated to the Geminid Meteor Shower which is debris left over by the Asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The peak here in the GMT Timezone (Portugal, UK & Ireland) is over the next 2 nights (December 13th and 14th) although will be visible for a few nights later. The best viewing starts after midnight and will last until dawn, but can be seen as soon as it goes dark. For a more detailed look at the times in your own timezone, take a look at Time and Date’s Web Page. Of course, any cloudy skies may hamper the viewing.

The Geminids take their name from the constellation Gemini where they originate, however, can be seen anywhere in the sky. Obviously the darker the sky the more chance of spotting them. They are very slow-moving and can shine multiple colours. It has been known to witness up to 160 an hour! After sunset if watch between North and East you can’t go wrong.

Here are some photos I took in 2017 with some photography tips following below

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Another Geminids Meteor Shower Photo

14th December 201714th December 2017Craig Rogers

Further to my earlier post, here is another photo of the Geminids from last night.

This timeframe was earlier in the evening and is a capture from between 8:07pm and 10:05pm. A shot was taken every 20 seconds with an exposure of 15 seconds. This resulted in 562 photos, 23 of which you can see merged here. One shot is the canvas and another 22 shots with meteors. Yes, before you count, there are 22 meteors in this photo.

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Geminids Meteor Shower

14th December 201714th December 2017Craig Rogers

Last night was the peak of the Geminids Meteor Shower. These Shooting Stars are dust particles left behind by the asteroid Phaethon.

It was hoped that there would be a lot of activity last night, however, it wasn’t the show I was hoping for with very little visible meteors burning up.

I left the camera capturing a 15 second exposure every 20 seconds between 10:16pm and 11:23pm. During this time the camera captured a few meteors, however, only 7 were bright enough to use. Can you spot all 7?

Therefore, I decided to merge all 203 photos together to create a star trail photograph also showing these 6 meteors. The reason the stars create a trail is that due to the Earth spinning on its axis and moving around the sun they appear to move in the sky. Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star, is just out of shot on the top left. This star doesn’t move much due to it being aligned with the Earths axis, hence the name North Star, all other stars then appear to rotate around it. The stars on the top right of the photo appear much brighter, this is the Milky Way.

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