Got ya! - Orionid Capture

[martinastro]

I was talking with John McConnell on the phone last night (Oct 21/22nd) after midnight and he alerted me to the rich meteor activity from the Orionid shower so I set up the camera at the back door for a patrol. I observed a stunning mag +1 Orionid shoot through Auriga with a train so I quickly turned the camera in that direction and took an exposure. An even better Orionid shot up from the radiant at 01.06 BST in the NE sky at mag 0 leaving a blue-green ion train visible for 2-3 sec's. The meteor had a gorgeous diamond head and pink/green trail. The end of the tail was near M35, and head near M37. Two bright members in less than a min. This was the best one of the night. It's also my best meteor captured to date so I was delighted with the catch. I have a habit of under estimating bright meteors by up to a full mag so could have been brighter. Another session from 04.30 - 06.25 BST produced 29 Orionids, 95% of them brighter than mag +2.

[brianb]

Nice one.

Camera / exposure details?

[martinastro]

Thanks Brian!

Fujifilm S6500fd 30 sec's at ISO800 using a 28mm lens at F/2.8.

[John9929]

Nice shot Martin, love those colours!

[Paul]

Excellent catch Martin, it's a colourful one too! You've sent it away I take it?

Paul.

[martinastro]

Thanks John and Paul. It's on page 1 of the 2008 Spaceweather Orionid gallery at the moment. Sent it to Astronomy Ireland but nowhere else so far.

http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_21oct08.htm?PHPSESSID=4vbmu7491lnv01gme0cqq6h666

[Paul]

Well done on the SW appearance Martin - you look to have the only capture from the British Isles so far!

P.

[Tyler]

great catch I used it on tonighssky.org

I saw it on the front page of spaceweather at midnight local time so. 6am for you guys in Ireland. Very cool that it showed up green!

[jjb]

Well caught Martin and congrats on SW.

[martinastro]

Thanks guys. Glad you liked the capture. It really was 100% luck. Thanks for featuring it on your blog Tyler. I have linked the blog up to my site on the astro links section. I check it every day now.

I'm still after that elusive fireball capture. Caught a 15 min Leonid smoke train two years ago and the head of the fireball itself on the edge of the frame. I want to get a proper image. The Taurids are arriving....

Seen a brilliant Orionid fireball last night. Between mag -5 and -6 W of zenith which illuminated the light clouds. The fireball had a large emerald green head. Quite a sight while distant lightning flashed on the horizon at the same time.

[Roman White]

Well done with that Orionid photo, Martin.  Congrats!   And the fireball is also a great luck.