Geminids over the Spiš Castle – Closer Cut
Over 2 years, the most famous Slovakian Spiš Castle (UNESCO World Heritage since 1993) was under reconstruction and there was a large crane on its top parts. Luckily, at the end of 2023, they moved it away and I could finally fulfill my photographic dream: To capture it from its northern side–where it looks like the US’ Devil’s Tower monument–with the night sky. And what could have been better for such an opportunity than the annual Geminid Meteor Shower? The weather was, actually, very bad, so this image is not perfectly physically correct as I was forced to travel for meteors dozens of kilometers around the castle for clear skies. I have also added meteors captured from the same area during the 2021 and 2022 Geminid maxima to this mosaic to better demonstrate the radiant effect. Hope you will like this image.
Interesting fact: While the castle was built in the 12th century, the shower was first observed in 1862. Usually, space objects and periodic phenomena exist or are known much longer than human history, but Geminids are not. The castle existed for around 7 centuries longer than this currently most active annual meteor shower, caused by rocky asteroid 3200 Phaeton, was known. So the image can be metaphorically called “Young Geminid meteors over old castle”.
For foreground, Canon Ra, Sigma 35mm were used (ISO 8000, 10s exposures, f2.0, from tripod). For meteors, two Canon 6D were used with Saymang 12mm, f2.8, and Samyang 14mm, f2.8, both ISO 6400, 30s exposures (continual framing from tripods). Meteors were registered to the foreground image in their exact positions as they appeared in the sky.
Geminids over the Spiš Castle – Closer Cut
Geminids over the Spiš Castle – Wide View
