Starship Asterisk*

Handsome image.
Good contrast.

I too counted 30. And since there were naysayers about the authenticity of the picture, I launched Starry Night and found the sky illustrated by the pic.
You can see it here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9654016/apod%2 ... v%2019.jpg

The window capture of Starry Night contains all the info for anyone to recreate it.

I count 31.

I count 35...

There are exactly 30 separate meteors imaged. Stephen Yenzer

30

There are no more than 28--anymore than that- they are seeing things that are just not in the photo!!
It would be possible to get that many if it's a composite of six into one!! And the stars in the sky just may be Leo as it kind of looks like a backward question mark on right of center. I assume a digital camera was used such as the Canon Rebel which I wish I had one. Good job there, Mr. Santini!!

Apparently the two naysayers who think this was faked didn't read that these photos were taken in 2001, so the position of Leo now has no bearing.

welshbard wrote:Apparently the two naysayers who think this was faked didn't read that these photos were taken in 2001, so the position of Leo now has no bearing.

For all practical purposes, the position of Leo in this image is the same as it would be had the image been taken at the same time and place this year- above and behind the camera.

Hay me & Abhijeet identified 30 meteors.

30 meteors !

I note that the leonids in this picture, too, are very green, with no trace of blue. Their color is similar to the color of the leonid in APOD November 22, 2012. Admittedly, the APOD of November 19, 2012, is just possibly slightly blue-deficient, or at least possibly more so than the APOD of November 22. The stars in the APOD of November 19 almost all very white, whereas in the APOD of November 22 they are typically bluish-white.

Brightness could play a part here. The stars in the APOD of November 19 look quite bright, whereas in the APOD of November 22 they look rather faint. Some photographers and some photographic films "burn out" the blue color of bright bluish stars, while they enhance the (possibly more intrinsically not so blue) blue color of faint stars. The APOD of November 19 could be an example of that kind of astrophotography.

I'm just speculating somewhat idly about the cause of the strikingly green, totally non-blue color of these leonids.

Ann