Observing Six Major Annual Meteor Showers
October 13, 2022
Photographer: Petr Horálek
Summary Author: Petr Horálek
It took 8 long years to obtain the above image, but it was worth it. This was the longest and most time-consuming astrophotography project of my life, the complete collection of 6-major meteor showers (ones having a normal zenithal hourly rate of more than 18 meteors per hour) captured from different locations around the globe.
While most stargazers around the globe are familiar with the August Perseids and December Geminids meteor showers, lesser known but still very nice showers can be seen throughout the whole year. In early January, the Quadrantids are active, the meteor shower of the “lost constellation.” Then, in April, there’s the Lyrids, in May, the Eta-Aqarids, and in October, the Orionids (peaks October 20 and 21). Note that the Quadrantids and Geminids are caused by fragments of asteroids, thus these meteors have been observed to have somewhat different colors than the others, which result from comet disintegration.
I used almost the same settings for taking all images (same cameras, lenses, post-processing methods) in this collection. Click here for more information.
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