Tag: Geminid Meteor Shower

Geminid Meteor Shower 2017

admin

I don’t get to use my camera as much as I used to anymore but I still wanted to go out and see the Geminid Meteor Shower this year. It was forecast to be a good show.

I met up with some of the South Florida National Park Camera Club members and fellow photographer Robert Chaplin out in Everglades National Park. We started at Mahoganny Hammock and I spent most of the time just watching the show and left my camera in the car. I also did not see any compositions I liked so instead enjoyed the company for a little while before heading out on my own. While driving around I came across a lone Cypress Tree near the main park road that I liked and decided to set up my camera and see if I could capture a few meteors in the background. I got lucky and captured 3 meteors in one 30 second exposure using the cypress tree as my foreground anchor. Once I got home and looked at the images on the big screen I really liked the shot and will likely find a place for it in my personal collection.

This years meteor shower was one of the best I have seen in years. Meteors were streaking across the sky every few seconds with numerous fireballs and very bright meteors mixed in. The weather is also always great for us South Floridians as it is cool and keeps the mosquitoes at bay at night.

Geminid Meteor Shower 2014

admin

A photographer friend and I decided on the spur of the moment to head out to the Everglades to photograph this years Geminid Meteor shower.  We knew the almost full moon would rise around midnight so we only had a small window of opportunity to watch and photograph natures fireworks display.  We started at Mahogany Hammock and worked our way down to Flamingo.

I am glad we decided to make the trip because this years shower was the best I have seen in quite some time.  It seemed that every few seconds one, two or even three meteors were streaking across the sky.  We even saw a few green fireballs.  It may have also helped that we found a new dark site that blocked out much of the light pollution from Miami and the Keys.

I had a great time but did not come home with a lot of keeper images.  However, I did capture one good long exposure image and combined my three best meteors into the same image to create a more dramatic effect.

Giminids Meteor Shower 2013

admin

Woke up at 2:00 AM this morning to run out to Everglades National Park to try and photograph the Giminids Meteor Shower.  The moon did not set until around 3:30 but I wanted to get out there early to figure out the best spot to shoot from.  I did not shoot the setting moon but it was a vibrant yellow and even a little orange as it sank below the horizon.

The Geminids Meteor shower started its peak this morning but is not supposed to reach its full potential until tomorrow morning.  However the moon set earlier today and I decided to give it a try when I had more time before the sunrise.  The meteors were very active and I observed hundreds over the course of 2 plus hours.  However, many were faint with only a handful of really bright fireballs.  Unfortunately, I was not able to capture many of them with my camera due to the random nature of were they would appear.  I only managed to capture one small meteor as it streaked across the sky.

I also shot a few long exposures while I was out there as well as using my flashlight to do some painting with the stars as my backdrop.  Either way I had a great time observing natures fireworks.

Click on Thumbnail for full size image.