Near-Gem of a Geminids

 

The Geminids Meteor Shower, annually one of the year's best, did not disappoint on its peak night of December 13/14, 2023. Unlike most meteor showers which are generated from cometary debris, the Geminids comes from Asteroid 3200. I spent nearly an hour observing and photographing the event from about 2:00 am to 3:00 am December 14 from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image above, captured at 2:06 am, looks southeast and is a 10 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 35mm focal length.

This image is a composite photograph of five separate images, captured from 2:06 am-2:52 am, and with the same settings as the single image at top. The best meteor of the night unfortunately occurred outside my camera's view--very bright and with a well-defined round head. The night was chilly (22 degrees F, with 88% humidity). Nikon Z6ii camera.