Watching 100 meteors in Swindon, England

Photographer and stargazer Renata Arpasova clenched her tripod in the gusting winds early Wednesday and was rewarded with the sight of 100 meteors charging across her sky in Swindon, England.

She felt “sheer excitement with every single one of them.”

Arpasova shot 420 back-to-back images of the Quadrantid meteor shower between 3 and 7 a.m. armed with a Canon 5DMKII, tripod, remote release and a fisheye lens to cover as much of the sky as possible.

She blended 19 individual shots into this composite image, which she shared with CNN iReport. Using the Ursa Major constellation as a reference point, Arpasova says she tried to rotate the images so as to imitate the Earth’s movement.

“It was an amazing show, and I know many people could not watch it, due to bad weather, or because they are in Southern hemisphere, or maybe because they didn’t find out about it until later,” Arpasova says. “I wanted to share this spectacle with as many people out there as possible.”

See more of her photos at her website and Flickr page.

If you enjoy counting stars and tracing comet tails, we want to hear from you. Share your photos and video of space and show us rocket launches and celestial happenings near you.

Post by: CNN iReport’s Daphne Sashin
Filed under: In Space • iReport

soundoff (4 Responses)

John

Saw 7 Early morning on my drive into work (hr long) in South Dak. Beautiful 5 AM drive. Moon was set. Like I said, Saw 7 and that was directly in front of me driving down the road, could've been alot more around me. bada$$ composite keep em coming

January 10, 2012 at 1:33 pm |
Ken

Awesome shot(s). Great job on catching the meteor shower. Missed them in Montana due to cloud coverage 🙁

January 5, 2012 at 11:51 pm |
- Hotel
  
  I don't pay for gas, directly, oamynre. I don't have a car. I ride public transportation. Today, I saw the Golden Bear gas station on Morena selling regular for $3.97 and $4.17 for premium. But I've heard the gas is crap.When the gas prices go up like this, $5 for all day on MTS seems like a bargain. It cost a little more to ride the Coaster up north, but the view from the Coaster is absolutely spectacular along the cliffs of Del Mar!
  
  April 5, 2012 at 4:24 pm |
Leann

What a beautiful photo.

January 5, 2012 at 2:05 pm |