Meteor showers are usually caused by debris left from passing comets streaming into Earth's atmosphere. The high speed of the particles causes them to vaporize when they hit the atmosphere resulting in the characteristic streaks thru the night sky. The Geminids are a major, annual meteor shower occurring between December 6th and 14th with the peak generally around December 14. The 'comet' causing the Geminid meteor shower is thought to be 3200 Phaethon, a strange near-earth object more similar to an asteroid than a comet.

I went out to Leasburg Dam SP to watch and image the shower. The view north of the park is pretty dark. This is a composite image consisting of 30-second, ISO 6400 subs taken with my modified T2i and a Canon 15mm wide angle lens.

It was kind of a sparse show. I only captured three bright meteors before bailing due to the cold. The image does show a myriad of DSO objects including the Andromeda Galaxy (upper left) and the Pleiades (center). the bright emission nebula (lower center) is the California Nebula (NGC 1499).

The field of view used to acquire the original image is shown on the right.

Enchanted Skies - Astrophotography by Rich Richins (all images copyright, Rich Richins)