Toccoa Photographer Captures Three Meteor Trails From Halley's Comet Debris
Tim McCollum documented the streaks on October 21, two days before the Orionid shower reaches its peak activity.
By Priya Marino ·
Three bright streaks cut through the dark sky above Toccoa, Georgia, on the early morning of October 21.
Astrophotographer Tim McCollum captured the images using a Canon EOS Ra camera and an RF 28-70 f2.0 lens. He took multiple 30-second exposures between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., using a star tracker to keep the camera fixed on the radiant point. McCollum then merged the individual frames into a single composite image using PixInsight software.
The meteors are fragments of Comet 1P/Halley, also known as Halley's Comet. Although the comet itself is more than 3 billion miles from Earth, the dust particles it shed remain in orbit. These particles enter the atmosphere at high speed, creating the visible trails of the Orionid meteor shower. The radiant point for this shower lies near Betelgeuse, a red giant star in the constellation Orion. McCollum noted that each meteor appears to race away from this origin point.
The resulting photograph contains more than just the meteor trails. On the right side of the image, the stars of Orion's Belt sit near the glow of the Orion Nebula, a nearby star-forming region. The Rosette Nebula, cataloged as Caldwell 49, is also visible within the dense starfield and dust lanes of the Milky Way's galactic plane, which runs diagonally across the composite. Numerous star clusters are also visible in the background.
McCollum described the process of capturing meteors as a combination of skill, luck, and patience. The annual Orionid display was building toward its peak activity at the time of the shoot. The image was shared with Space.com, which invites readers to submit their own astrophotography, comments, names, and locations to their editorial team.
The Orionid meteor shower remains active until November 7. This period offers additional opportunities for observers to see meteors from Halley's Comet. Earth is also currently passing through debris streams from Comet 2P/Encke, which produce the Taurid meteor shower. This overlap can occasionally result in bright Halloween Fireballs for lucky observers.
