Photo by Mike Keefe
16 RAC members and a few guests gathered to watch and photograph the annual Geminid meteor shower Thursday night/ Friday morning. While everyone pursued different activities, all fought dew, frost and cool temperatures that reached into the upper 20s. The sky conditions were just good enough for imaging and visual observers to have some success. We had no clouds, but transparency was surprisingly mediocre due to significant atmospheric aerosols and high humidity. Transparency improved during the post-midnight hours but never became ‘excellent’.
Most members were photographing: some imaged meteors with DSLRs, and a few imaged deep-sky objects with DSLRs and CCD cameras. One videographer imaged with a Mallincam. Hopefully some of their work will be posted for all to enjoy.
Meteors were widely dispersed over the entire sky and varied in both speed and color. Some slower, bright meteors left brief, visible trails. Others flashed literally for less than a second. These ‘quickie’ meteors were some of the fastest meteors I have ever seen. Most meteors streaked over perhaps 10-20 degrees while a few spanned 30-45 degrees. Colors ranged from simply white to yellow and even a few bright green ones. The variety was quite impressive.
