Meteor shower video taken in Nagano
TOKYO —
On Dec 14, while many of us were warmly tucked away in our cat capes, an annual celestial event took place above.
One brave photographer spent a chilly night in a Nagano park to capture these meteors for us all to see.
This meteor shower consists of Geminids, which are meteors that appear to originate from the constellation Gemini. In fact, they come from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.
The video was taken on the ski slopes of Sugidaira in Nagano Prefecture and is actually a series of 2,000 photographs taken with a 15-second exposure time. The result is that arc-like path of the Geminids which move more slowly than other meteors.
The video takes place between midnight and dawn on the morning of Dec 14. These meteors are believed to peak at around two or three o’clock in the morning on this day every year.
Watching the “painting” of meteors that develops over the sky in the middle of the video really puts where you sit on Earth in another perspective. Then watching the straight shots of the sky you can’t help but feel miniscule in the grand scheme of things.
Original Article: Yayoi Saginomiya on Pouch (Japanese)
Video: YouTube beaphoto1
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8 Comments
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2
basroil
The arcs shown are stars, not meteors. The meteors are the few straight lines that show up shooting to the bottom of the frame. Anyone who has ever taken star timelapse photos and used super-positioning can tell the difference.
0
globalwatcher
I see something like this every night from my wrap around deck. I meditate very quietly in it. I feel a mystery of life and a presence of God.
1
basroil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_meteor_showers
Apparently the Geminids aren't really all that slow, plenty of slower annual showers visible from Japan, including the draconids that had a 1000 meteor/hour peak rate this year (and last year).
2
In_japan
Take pictures with shutter speed of 15~30sec.(depends). Take hundreds- thousands of snaps overnight. Do not move the camera. Next day open Photoshop (drag all the photos in one file). Except the bottom-most picture, change all of them to "Lighten-blend mode". Happy-holidays
-2
Lowly
Nice pic for today, but why not make it larger?, and nice video link.
Wish I'd seen it. I live in a big metro region, 1, and 2, it was cloudy and rainy then.
1
FightingViking
Who cares if they're "stars" or "meteors" ? Made for an interesting video just the same.
0
Serrano
Amazing how so many more stars are visible in Nagano than in Tokyo.
4
zichi
The Nagano night sky, when visible is truly amazing. When we lived there we matched the hale bopp comet for months. I think the higher elevation helps and no lights during the night. There's a major observatory there.
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