Clouds largely obscured this Geminid shower, though I could visually see many bright ones even behind the
cloud cover. In this shot a bright Geminid is visible between the Big Dipper and Polaris. The orange hue of
the clouds are caused by the sodium vapor lights of Palm Springs.
Photo info
- Date/Time: 14 Dec. 2018, 03:25 PST
- Location: Vanishing Point Observatory
- Camera: Nikon D850 @ ISO 1600, cropped frame
- Exposure: 20 sec.
- Lens: Sigma 15mm fisheye, f/2.8
- Mount: Skywatcher Star Adventurer tracker
- Image Processing: Lightroom
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Earlier in the evening, Comet 46P / Wirtanen was visible. While it was nearly at its closest approach to Earth, it was still a dim fuzzy ball with no discernable tail. Binoculars were necessary to spot it visually. On the photo above, the comet is indicated by an arrow. The white streak is a satellite.
