Fireball captured with Star Trails in Pembrokeshire

[buckas]

Friday night I headed out to Carew Castle to take a star trails image for an upcoming magazine feature I’m writing. Clear skies and no wind greeted me and is perfect conditions for this type of photography.

A few minutes into the sequence though I struck gold by capturing a massive fireball / meteor directly in my field of view, lucky isn’t the word! However I had to wait to the end of my hour long session to see if I had caught it.

It was quite slow moving burning bright greens and oranges as it travelled over the countryside, breaking into pieces was quite a surreal sight to witness.

The image above is two, thirty second images merged to make one, one minute long exposure – the green colours from the fireball / meteor have been captured in the reflections from the waters that surround Carew Castle.

Below shows my sequence of one hundred and thirty consecutive, thiry second exposures stacked on top of one another using image stacking software. Taken just over an hour. Thankfully there were some nearby car headlights in the car park that illuminated the castle to give the scene more impact.

And then the whole sequence with all the images from my star trails session including the fireball images are merged into one image below.

500PX >> http://500px.com/photo/14450499

cheers

drew

[laser_jock99]

Wonderful capture- what time was this, I missed it?

[buckas]

Thanks - about 11pm on friday

Drew

[laser_jock99]

Thanks - about 11pm on friday

Drew

I must have nipped indoors for some reason & missed it.......plus my camera was facing South.

[SkyJamie]

Wow awesome pictures Drew! I love the green colour showing in the water like that, must have been amazing to see, and next to a castle too, brilliant!

Jamie

[LukeSkywatcher]

What a great image of what was by all acounts an amazing event to witness. Sadly (numpty here) was sitting at my computer instead of being outside on the clearest night for weeks.

[MrJulius]

Very nice, another timelapseer in southern Norway probably captured the same meteor as well as numerous other people in the UK.

http://vimeo.com/49964788

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/09/21/very-bright-and-spectacular-meteor-seen-over-northern-uk/

[Chris]

Thats a brilliant capture Drew, great work! I missed this one, sounds like it was a particularly good one.

[Stargazer Jack]

That is amazing

[mikeyscope]

Excellent capture, beautiful image!

[jimjam11]

I was outside at the time but managed to miss it and I have no idea how based on what people have said!

[stellawolf]

Wonderful