# Fireball captured with Star Trails in Pembrokeshire



## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

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


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## mattsbmw (Jul 20, 2008)

What an absolutely stunning image :doublesho

An the meteor really adds to the effect.


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## abc (Sep 30, 2009)

Amazing picture!


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## pooma (Apr 12, 2008)

Awesome, a truly stunning pic:thumb:


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## B2ONGO (May 5, 2011)

Wow - stunner. 

You'd be lucky enough to see it whilst staggering home from the pub or what not but to be set up for a long exposure shot, with that composition, doing a long exposure and for it to pass where it did - amazing. 

The headlights lighting up the castle and the green reflection on the water are nice bonus's too. 

I suspect I'll see this shot popping up in the future!!!

Top work mate.


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## Will_G (Jan 23, 2012)

Very nice although I preferred the one you showed prior to editing the post without the star trails :thumb:


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Talk about right place at right time.... lucky so and so...:lol:


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## Scotty B (Jul 1, 2009)

Stunning.


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## feck_on_a_stick (Jul 30, 2010)

That first pic is gorgeous. What a view!


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

Think the first shot is my fave!

Luck is deceptive. If your in the right place with a camera often enough, good things can happen


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## J1ODY A (Nov 28, 2008)

Pictures look amazing... 

wish I knew what the **** you were talking about 30 seconds sequence placed on another 1 minute exposure.. I mean WTF!!!!


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

thanks all, hah - will give you a lesson with your box brownie Jody!


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## TelTel (Aug 21, 2010)

great photography that there mate, well done. 

Its amazing what can be achieved with SLR's, but the thing with photography really is a case of good thinking and experimenting, sometimes clicking wrong buttons can work in peoples favour as i have found out myself. lol


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## J1ODY A (Nov 28, 2008)

buckas said:


> thanks all, hah - will give you a lesson with your box brownie Jody!


I watch enough sh*t on the Discovery channel to know what one of them are... I have just ordered a new set of plates for mine 

Sent via tapadapawapaslappatalk


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

sorry buckas.. the star trails aren't my cup of tea.. 

if you could merge the lighten castle with the photo of the 1 minute(2x30second) exposure shot, to have the meteor trail and the light up castle I think it would give a nice effect.


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Excellent stuff  Probably once in a lifetime aswell  I can picture you talking about the shot and someone asking 'so what did you light the castle with?' and you replying rather blase 'oh, just a passing meteor' lol

Phil


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

That Brilliant Drew. truly..

Kev


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