2012 Geminid Meteor Shower

<p>It is that time of the year again. Get out there and see if you can get some good photos of the Geminid meteor shower. At peak activity and with clear skyes, you can see many of them each hour. The number seem to vary each year. At peak activity in 2011, observers could see 40 meteors per hour. In 2010 they could see 120 meteors per hour. Peek activity will last for many hours. This year the moon will not be in your way. As far as I know, the meteor shower can be seen from most parts of the world. Let's hope for clear skyes. Feel free to share your own photos in this thread.</p>

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<p>'It's the most wonderful time of the year -- for spotting a Geminid meteor! The 2012 Geminid meteor shower is forecast to be a lively meteor shower with great views in the skies over Earth. The week of Dec. 10-16 is a good window for Geminid-watching, but the night of Dec. 13 is the anticipated peak. On the night of Dec. 13-14 from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. EST, meteor experts from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will be available to answer your questions via a late-night Web chat.'</p>

<p>'A live Ustream feed of the Geminid shower will be embedded below on the night of the chat (Dec. 13-14). '</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/geminids2012.html">2012 - Nasa</a></p>

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<p>Here is some information from earlier Geminid meteror showers:</p>

<p><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/13dec_geminids/">2011 - Nasa</a><br /> <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/06dec_geminids/">2010 - Nasa</a><br /> <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/08dec_geminids/">2009 - Nasa</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Quote article in USA TOday "The best areas for viewing the meteor shower will be the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, the Plains and the interior Southeast, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Mark Paquette."<br>

<br />Quote's fromSpacedex.com "For the best view, meteor gazers should face in any direction away from constellation Gemini and the moon, which will appear close to the constellation."<br>

"Unlike many of the other major meteor showers, the Geminids can be viewed early in the evening. This is due to the radiant (the constellation Gemini) being about 30 degrees above the eastern horizon by 9:00pm."</p>

<p>Thank you, Wayne!</p>

<p>It has never failed to be cloudy over the past 10 years around here, so maybe next year. </p>

If you have seen one, you have seen them all. :-) (But seriously.)<br>These showers are always built-up to be much more than they actually deliver. So don't feel bad if you miss the spectacle.

<p>I sat out with my camera for a couple of hours last night - lovely clear sky and plenty of meteors but all very small, dim, and quick.<br>

Didn't manage to capture any on camera - will try again tonight.</p>

<p>I sat out with my camera for a couple of hours last night - lovely clear sky and plenty of meteors but all very small, dim, and short trails.<br>

Didn't manage to capture any on camera - will try again tonight.</p>

I looked for about 1/2 hour last night staring straight up on a recliner. I saw maybe three meteors of perhaps three or four moon diameters across the sky. Very quick. There may have been more of perhaps one or two moon diameters and only the brightness of a fifth magnitude star but they could have just been effects of my eyes boggling from all that staring at a dark sky with bright stars.

 

There is always talk of this "spectacle" but 40 an hour means about one every 1-1/2 minutes or so and the vast majority of them are very short in length and time (1/10th of a second) and very dim. They are more perceived than seen.

<p>Two nights ago, there was a clear sky here. I made some star shots, but the AF mechanism must have been troubled by the low temperature (-15ºC/5ºF), only a couple of shots were in focus. There was a faint meteor trail in one of the shots that were not in focus. Not much to brag about, but here it is. I am looking forward to seeing some great shots from some of you. There are heavy clouds here today.</p><div></div>

<p>Ann, try manual focus at infinity. </p>

<p>Was that heavily cropped? </p>

<p>Michael, I did. Those shots are out of focus too. Very strange. But it was sooooo freeeeezingly coooooold that night. The lens has behaved earlier for star shots. I hope it will again. It is my only f2.8 lens beside my 90mm f2.8 Tamron macro lens.</p>

<p>No cropping of the image.</p>

<p>It shouldn't be difficult to achieve perfect manual focus by eye or even by using LiveView. The only cause I can think of is frost forming on the lens elements or the sensor from exposing it to temperature extremes when brought out from a warm place. </p>

<p>Usually you'd want to leave the stuff outside for a while until the gear reaches thermal equilibrium with ambient, but this is not really practical with DSLRs since -15C is outside of its rated operating temperature. </p>

<p>I could hear the lens struggling hard to achieve focus. I didn't like the sound of it at all. The camera was on a low tripod, so I couldn't focus by the eye or by using Live View. The camera is pointed towards the sky. I can't bend like that. If I extend the middle part of the tripod, it is not steady enough. Even with the tripod fully extended, I don't think I would have been able to see throught the viewfinder. I use the self timer to avoid camera shake. I have to choose between the self timer and Live View. I can't have both. I wish the camera had an articulating LCD screen and the option of using Live View with the self timer. It would have been great for star shooting.</p>

<p>From the Nasa blog today: A very short <a href="http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/newui/blog/viewpostlist.jsp?blogname=Watch%20the%20Skies">video</a> of the 141 events last night. At least 77 of them were thought to be Geminids.</p>

<p>I was out last night from 10 'til 11. I'm just east of Columbus Ohio (and Port Columbus International Airport). I got a bunch of pics of 'plane' trails. I saw one meteorite. Naturally my D300 was exposed to a different part of the sky. I did the same as Ann with the self timer. My best luck focus-wise was with my Sigma 30/1.4 set exactly at infinity, f/5.6, ISO 800, and 15 seconds. My inexpensive tripod was not up to the D300 with 70-200 f/2.8 VR.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear that you couldn't catch any meteorite trails last night, Mark. Maybe the shower is not quite finished yet. Here we have a long term weather forecast showing a lot of snow for the next couple of weeks. So I guess there will be no chance for stars and meteorite trail shots here in a while.<br>

<br /> I found a meteorite trail in one of the other images yesterday, but you can hardly see it. When you overexpose the images in post you might find a meteorite trail in there somewhere.</p>

<p>Ann - Thanks for your concern. I'm not that into astronomy. I quit after 3 20 minute sessions around 11:30 last night. I had more interest in the goose that was keeping me company. I think he/she lost its mate this summer and has been hanging around the office looking forlorn.<br>

I skimmed my raw files late last night but didn't see any trails. I'll take a closer look this afternoon.</p>

<p>Mark</p><div></div>

<p>Ah, snow free land! Green and nice. Poor little guy. Some of them seem to show almost the same feelings as we do when they experience loss of family members. I have seen a swan couple that couldn't find their last babyswan (which had grown quite big). The father just stood in one place looking out over the sea for hours, and the mother flew around searching for her baby. The reason why I noticed their behaviour and knew <em>why</em> they behaved like that, was that some people had the injured swan baby in their care waiting for the vet to arrive. They didn't think it would survive the injuries.</p>

<p>I'm thinking of going out tonight and trying to capture some. I've never shot anything like this before, what camera settings are recommend? I'll be using a tripod with my remote shutter so that will not be an issue.</p>

<p>Also which of my lenses is best for this? I have a D90 with either a Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8, Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 or Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>With Google as my friend, I found the answers to my questions. For anyone else looking for help, check out:</p>

<p>http://www.realclearwx.com/m1.htm<br>

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/digital-photography-101-how-to-photograph-meteor-showers.html#b</p>

<p>Ann - I double-checked my raw files from the other night. No meteorite trails. Just planes. Saw the picture of my silly goose again and decided to get a day shot from last night's location. Darn if that goose didn't come over again to see what I was doing. The structure in the left background is actually a porta-john farm. A new company planted them this fall. Looks like they have a heck of a crop.</p><div></div>

<p>BTW - I really did take star pictures hoping to "catch" some meteorites. All I got was a goose (see above) and a plane trail.</p><div></div>