Fireball Over the Sunnmøre Alps

May 19, 2014

Fireball Over the Sunnmore Alps

Photographer: Geir T. Øye
Summary Authors: Geir T. Øye; Jim Foster
 
The photo above shows an exceptionally bright meteor (fireball) over Ørsta, Norway, as photographed on the night of March 26, 2014. As a millimeter-sized piece of cosmic debris (meteoroid) entered the Earth's upper atmosphere, disintegrating well before reaching the surface, my DSLR camera was in action, detecting it streaking above the Sunnmøre Alps. This fireball lasted 2-3 seconds. I observed it through a window while the camera was running. Note the Big Dipper at top center, Polaris at left center and Arcturus at upper right. Photo taken at 9:42 p.m. [Revised December 2017]
 
Photo Details: Canon EOS 500D camera; Samyang 8 mm fish-eye lens; ISO 800. The camera was set up for time-lapse photography -- programmed for an exposure of about 51 seconds. Using this exposure, star-trailing was avoided.