Tassie Geminid

[colinmlegg]

Hi,

I think I captured a Geminid last night while shooting some timelapse on the east coast of Tassie. It's from not long after midnight and Gemini was close to it's northern transit, so even though this little fireball is in the deep south, it seems to be pointing the right way for a Geminid.

Clouds have rolled on today, so that's probably it for this year down here. Hope others get a clear view tonight :)

Colin

[CapturingTheNight]

Great image Colin :thumbsup: and great location too. I recognised the silhouetted hills straight away. I was standing at that exact same spot about four months ago. Hope you are having a great time in Tassie and that the sun throws off some activity directed at us, for you soon. The aurora numbers have been rather poor every time that I have looked lately.

[Octane]

Beautiful work, my friend.

Got some of that green airglow scattered about, too.

Lovely!

H

[colinmlegg]

Thanks Guys :) I think I'm already in love with Tassie ;)



It's a gorgeous spot, Greg. There is some light pollution from Hobart though, so south -> east is the go. I got lucky last night with the aurora...pic tomorrow :D



Thanks H.

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Colin.

Great capture as well.

Ross.

[iceman]

Beautiful pic, so nice!

[CapturingTheNight]

Aha! Awesome. Can't wait. Someone in the Aurora Australis Tasmania FB page posted a pic from yesterday morning at about 2:30am showing a bit of aurora action, and I immediately wondered if you had a camera or three running at the time.

[gregbradley]

Great shot Colin.

Greg.

[venus]

looks like you may have both types of meteors there is that one near the horizon too?

[iceman]

I kept coming back to this beautiful pic.

It's now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

I love how the clouds gave that extra diffuse glow to Crux! I can't wait to see the timelapse.

[colinmlegg]

Thank you very much Mike :) I did get some aurora that night...in 15 frames around 50 minutes before the Geminid. Amazing that they both showed up in same part of the frame. More aurora goodness last night. I would love to be down here when a CME hits.

[Ross G]

Congratulations on IOTW Colin.

Well deserved.

Ross.

[colinmlegg]

Thanks Greg. :)



I think it's a small aircraft. You can see the string of lights better in the original image.



Thanks Ross. :)

[spacezebra]

Excellent capture Colin!

Cheers Petra d.

[Lester]

High class image Colin, thanks for the view. Congratulations for IOTW too. All the best.

[PeterM]

Colin, beautiful image, now my on my desktop (hope you don't mind).
Thanks!

[alexch]

Great image, Colin and good to see that you had some good weather in Tassie!

Alex

[astronobob]

:cool: Magic shot & scenery Colin. Congratts !

[gaa_ian]

Well done Colin. I am Sooooo.... close to getting myself a 600D for Xmas :cool:
I live in such a great part of the county too (albeit the hot end !)
I miss capturing so many great night sky moments here.
My old Canon S2 IS does not cut it for low light.

[Martin Pugh]

Super photo Colin and congrats on IOTW

Cheers
Martin

[Larryp]

Lovely shot, Colin, and congratulations on IOTW:thumbsup:

[colinmlegg]

Thanks Laurie.



Thanks Martin.



Thanks Ian. 600D should be work great. Look forward to seeing some nightscapes from up your way :)



Thanks Bob.



Thanks Alex. Tassie was a tad cloudy as you predicted...got 3 clearish nights out of 8. I did pick up some auroral activity on all 3 nights, though. Amazing considering activity levels were fairly low.. KP 2-3.



Thanks Peter. No probs :)



Thanks Lester.



Thanks Petra.

[Ian Cooper]

Another great shot Colin, and a very important one as far as meteor showers go. What you have also captured is some evidence for the anti-radiant point of the Geminid meteor shower. Because from our latitudes, in my place 40 south, the actual radiant point is so low even at its highest, there is a chance to see the point where all of the meteors are heading to.

It takes a very active shower to make this easy to see, so not surprisingly I first became aware of this during the Great Leonid Shower of 1998. It was quite clear with the appearance of flurries of Leonids converging low in the SSW that it was worth looking in that direction as well.

This was confirmed for me six years ago when a good astrophotographer mate of mine, Graham Palmer, travelled the 100 miles to my place for a clear view of the Geminids and a chance for an aurora. Armed with his new didgital SLR, Graham started patrolling the sky, but as is often the case the meteors appeared everywhere except in his field of view. This was the best Geminids display that I had seen for sometime(the night of the 14th). In the end Graham concentrated on capturing any sign of auroral glow. No luck there either but he did get one the next night when he crossed back over the Tararua Ranges and headed further south, capturing the last display from SunSpot Cycle 23 to be seen from the North Island of New Zealand.

While Graham was trying for aurora we couldn't help but notice Geminids converging near Pavo. When I saw your shot it got me to thinking about comparing the path of your meteor to any anti-radiant point for the Geminids. I used some coordinates for the Geminids given on a web site. There was no specific date given for when the coordinates applied. I grabbed a chart from S&T inverted it and roughly plotted my calculated anti-radiant point and then added your meteor. What it shows to me is the fact that the radiant and therefore anti-radiant point moves across the sky as the earth moves around the sun. I also annotated your image so that people can easily see the outline of Pavo.

This may encourage others to turn their backs on Gemini next time and photograph our beautiful southern sky, as well as capture some Gem's at the same time!

Cheers

Coops.

[naskies]

Great work, Colin! Congrats on IOTW too - well deserved. As others have mentioned, the enlarged Southern Cross / Pointers from the passing clouds adds a perfect touch.

[colinmlegg]

Thanks Dave, Ian.

Ian, i love your posts, always learn something new when you write. I was very lucky with that shot. It was a timelapse hoping for aurora and maybe, just maybe a bright Geminid? :) The aurora did make a brief appearance 50 mins earlier. I'll post that on another thread soon.

Just been musing about this time last year. Great memories! :)

[Ian Cooper]

Thanks Colin,

I'm learning all of the time, it is one of the great things about astronomy.

I'm also lucky that "The Great Christmas Comet," wasn't this year. We have the not so great remnant of Tropical Cyclone Evan spread over the whole of the North Island. If it was this year I would have had to have made a mad dash to my brother's place on the West Coast of the South Island where the skies have been brilliantly clear and transparent going by the IR sat images.

I'll be getting up early in January to check out the progress of C/2011 L4 Panstarrs. We may get a very good look at it in the evening sky late Feb early March as it flicks over the sun. we could see any tail pointing straight up and away from the twilight in the first week of March before we lose it in the sun's glare.

The excitement never ceases!

Cheers, Ian.

[colinmlegg]

2013 should be a great year, Ian. Panstarrs in March, Annular (WA) in May, then maybe ISON Nov/Dec.

What's your feeling on ISON? Is Hawaii far enough north post perihelion? I'm thinking of doing a quick trip there early December if things pan out.

[Ian Cooper]

Hi Colin,

yes you will be a busy boy!

It's not going to be easy with ISON. For us it will be a bright object sitting above the morning twilight throughout November until perihelion. If it has developed any significant tail by then we will know about it.

On the morning of perihelion (Nov 29th) the comet will rise about 7 minutes before the sun. I am not really sure if it will make too much difference in the end given that the sun is so close by, but I would advise observers and photographers to find somewhere with a true south east horizon. no hills, mountains, trees or buildings. Have bino's with you for looking for the comet, but as soon as the green or blue flash from the rising sun appears then put the bino's away.

There is no point in going to the northern hemisphere at perihelion. Given the quality of austral skies observers will have a better chance of seeing ISON in daylight from home, if the weather is kind, and the comet makes the magnitude estimates.

I was lucky enough to see Comet McNaught in daylight on two consecutive days back in '07. This should outdo McNaught in that respect, and ISON may even rival The Great September Comet of 1882 as far the record for the number of days, which satnds at 5, where naked-eye visibility is concerned as well.

Back to the tail. If the tail is already prodigious before perihelion, and there are no guarantees, then it will pose a very similar sight to Lovejoy around Christmas last year, although it will most likely be curving and swishing to the right very rapidly on perihelion day. This affect was recorded well by japenese astronomers at the time of perihelion passage for Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965.

Looking at prospects for the northern tropics post-perihelion it doesn't look that great. It is all to do with angles. For all of December the comet will be setting with the sun. Even for higher northern latitudes it won't be until just before Christmas that the alignment will improve enough for the comet to get above the evening twilight. Christmas Day should be the pick of it with the moon out of the evening sky. Even then the tail will cut a low trajectory across the northern horizon much like McNaught at the end of January in the morning sky (see my picture attached) but even flatter. The bonus for comet lovers could be a massively long tail of 90 degrees or longer! Now that could be worth travelling that far for?

Cheers

Coops

[colinmlegg]

My mouth is watering, Ian. If it's anything like you describe it'll be kid in candy shop stuff. :D

I reckon you should re-post all this goodness to the Geminid, Panstarrs, ISON threads. (feel free to move my image across)

[Ian Cooper]

Hi Colin,

I just posted a revised bunch of comments re ISON on that thread. It includes a detailed chart I made from a crop of a Uranometria chart.

Cheers

Ian

[colinmlegg]

Thanks Ian :) Look forward to hearing your obs reports next year...should be a good one!

[Ian Cooper]

Hi Colin,

I'm heading over to the east coast, only a 100km as the crow flies from my place, for New Year's Day. Providing that I don't over-indulge on the night I will have a go at doing a mag. estimate of Panstarrs before dawn. The forecast looks better on that side of the divide than for my home. The moon could be a challenge.Not over-indulging could be the bigger challenge though!

I'll keep you posted,

Ian

[colinmlegg]

Hope you managed to stay upright, Ian, and get a glimpse of the comet. Happy new year and look forward to many posts from you in 2013 :)