The Geminids are a reliable meteor shower that I’ve been successful photographing before; and last night/this morning at the predicted peak, the sky was clear. Only one thing stood in the way of seeing and capturing meteors: a just-past-full Moon sitting in Gemini, the radiant point of the shower.
I went out to try to photograph the meteors anyway, and I’m glad I did. I saw 15 bright meteors in about three hours, and got six good pictures.
Here is a zoom into the top picture:
Camera geek info:
- Canon EOS 60D in manual mode set at f/4, 2.0 second exposure, ISO 4000
- Sigma 10-20 mm f/4-5.6 lens, set at 10 mm, manual focus
- Intervalometer with bulb at 2 sec, intervals at 3 sec
- Tripod
I was seeing most of the meteors between Orion and Taurus, so I decided to switch to a faster, less wide-angle lens. For the first time, when I saw a meteor, I also caught it with the camera. I’ll be using this setting in the future.
Camera geek info:
- Canon EOS 60D in manual mode set at f/2.8, 2.0 second exposure, ISO 2000
- Sigma 24-70 mm f/2.8EX lens, set at 24 mm, manual focus
- Intervalometer with bulb at 2 sec, intervals at 3 sec
- Tripod
One web site suggested going out tonight (December 14) between sunset and moonrise to try to see meteors – I think I’ll try it!