Georgia photographer captures three meteor streaks from Halley's Comet
Tim McCollum recorded the trails in Toccoa on Oct. 21, while the Orionid shower builds toward peak activity.
By Daniel Rogers ·
Three distinct meteor trails cut across a star-filled sky in a photograph taken in Toccoa, Georgia, on Oct. 21. The image, captured by astrophotographer Tim McCollum, documents debris from Comet 1P/Halley burning up in Earth's atmosphere. Although the comet itself sits more than 3 billion miles away, the particles it shed continue to create visible streaks during the autumn season.
McCollum recorded the activity between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Oct. 21. Each meteor in the composite image radiates outward from a specific point in the constellation Orion, near the red giant star Betelgeuse. This point, known as the radiant, serves as the apparent origin for the annual Orionid meteor shower.
Capturing such fleeting events requires precise equipment and timing. McCollum used a Canon EOS Ra camera paired with an RF 28-70 f2.0 lens. A star tracker stabilized the camera to keep the field of view fixed while he shot multiple 30-second exposures. He later merged the individual frames into a single composite using PixInsight software.
The final image contains more than just the meteor streaks. The stars of Orion's Belt appear on the right side of the frame, adjacent to the glow of the Orion Nebula. The Rosette Nebula, designated as Caldwell 49, is also visible within the dense starfield and dust lanes of the Milky Way's galactic plane. The galactic plane runs diagonally across the composite, hosting numerous visible star clusters.
The Orionid shower remains active until Nov. 7. Observers can still spot meteors from Halley's Comet on clear nights during this window. Additionally, Earth is currently passing through debris streams from Comet 2P/Encke. This stream produces the Taurid meteor shower, which occasionally generates bright fireballs around Halloween.
Space.com is accepting submissions from other astrophotographers. Interested readers can send their own images, along with comments, name, and location, to spacephotos@space.com to potentially share their captures of the current meteor activity.
Source: Space.com
