Geminid Meteor Shower

[REVEREND (Raymond)]

Hi all.
This is my first attempt at photographing the above. Actually it's the first meteor of any kind. I saw 2 at 10.30 pm, then the cloud rolled in so I went to bed and set the alarm for 1.00am. I got up then and stayed until 3.30am.I took 155 shots and only had a meteor in 7 ... Is there some way I can improve the keeper rate and the quality of the shot. The shot was taken at Marybrook ( via Busselton WA.)
Thanks. Reverend.

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

Nothing wrong with that image Ray. Unless you have your camera set up on an EQ style mount, you will have star trails in your images. I assume you had it set for 30 to 60 sec exposure. At least you got some keepers.

[REVEREND (Raymond)]

Thanks Stu.
It was a 24 sec exposure. Not up with the EQ mount, but willing to learn.

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

There are various types of equatorial mounts that allow you to track an object without getting star trails. They remove the effect caused by the Earth's rotation and when set up well will keep the target centalised.

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Originally Posted by Shark Bait

Nothing wrong with that image Ray. Unless you have your camera set up on an EQ style mount, you will have star trails in your images. I assume you had it set for 30 to 60 sec exposure. At least you got some keepers.

Not necessarily Stu I agree its a very nice image, but star trails can be avoided or at least minimised to a point where they're barely noticeable if you keep in mind the 600 rule (attached) described by Greg Gibbs (IIS Member)

http://www.capturingthenight.com/blog/?p=12#comment-3

Reverend, this will depend on the focal length of your lens, essentially you want to take a long exposure with widest field of view (FOV) possible. This is depicted by a number on your lens in 'mm' units. The lower that number the wider your FOV.

Do you know what focal length your lens is?

[Ross G]

Great capture Ray.

Good luck.

Ross.