Photographer captures three Halley meteors over Georgia at 3 a.m.

Tim McCollum photographed three bright meteor trails over Toccoa, Georgia, in the early morning of October 21. The streaks originated from debris shed by Comet 1P/Halley, which is currently more than 3 billion miles from Earth. Although the parent comet is distant, its leftover particles still enter the atmosphere and create visible light.

McCollum recorded the activity between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. as the annual Orionid shower built toward its peak. In the resulting image, the meteors appear to radiate from a specific point in the sky. This radiant point lies near Betelgeuse, a red giant star in the constellation Orion. The visual effect confirms that the particles are entering the atmosphere along parallel trajectories.

Capturing such events requires precise equipment and timing. McCollum used a Canon EOS Ra camera paired with an RF 28-70 f2.0 lens. He took multiple 30-second exposures while a star tracker kept the camera locked on the radiant. He later merged these individual frames into a single composite image using PixInsight software.

The final photograph contains more than just the meteor trails. The stars of Orion's Belt appear on the right side of the frame, close to the glow of the Orion Nebula. This region is one of the nearest major star-forming areas to Earth. The dense starfield also includes the Rosette Nebula, catalogued as Caldwell 49, situated within the dust lanes of the Milky Way's galactic plane.

The galactic plane runs diagonally across the composite image. Numerous star clusters are visible within the background starfield. The combination of the meteors and these deep sky objects creates a dense view of the autumn night sky. The image was taken earlier this week during a period of high activity for the shower.

The Orionid shower remains active until November 7. Observers in the coming nights have further opportunities to spot debris from Halley's Comet. Earth is also passing through streams left by Comet 2P/Encke. These streams produce the Taurid meteor shower, which can occasionally generate bright fireballs around Halloween.