Photographer snaps incredible fireball over Banff
Digital Reporter
Sunday, December 21, 2014, 1:36 PM - The Gemenids were a bust in Canada this year due to poor cloud cover, but photographer Brett Abernethy managed to grab himself a consolation prize this weekend.
Abernethy was hunting for auroras in the Banff area in the early hours of Saturday when the fireball in the shot above streaked across the sky, while it was wide open and on a long exposure.
"Everything was lit up like daylight," Abernethy told the Weather Network when he uploaded the shot to our viewer photo gallery. "At one point the fireball broke up into at least 3 fragments and faded away."
Abernethy said the spectacle "seemed very close."
A fireball blazed over the mountains of Banff yesterday. "Everything lit up like daylight" (courtesy Brett Abernethy) pic.twitter.com/KATxIWSmvl
— Scott Meiklejohn (@ScottyTWN) December 21, 2014
"I was expecting to hear a noise to go along with it. I was very excited knowing that I was exposing a shot while it all occurred," he said.
Astrophotographer Alan Dyer, who runs the AmazingSky.net blog, told the Calgary Herald it did appear to be a natural fireball, burning up as is streaked through the sky, adding it wasn't clear whether any debris of it made it to the ground.
Abernethy, who is based in Calgary, is an avid night sky photographer. Aside from that incredible fireball, you can find tons of great shots on his Flickr page.
