This was the best Orionids display I've seen in 20 years. There were dozens of fireballs brighter than magnitude -4. In two nights, Oct. 21st and 22nd, I captured well over 160 meteors on video in the city. This movie shows a beautiful "long trajectory Orionid."

When photographing the constellation of Orion an Orionide meteor crossed my field of view. Fortunately it was a bright one and the complete trace was within the field of view. The trace shows orange and green colours.

Photo details: Canon EOS 40D with a 50 mm lens at f/2.2. Total exposure time was 33 Minutes.

Had I not seen the report on yesterday's Spaceweather that the Orionids were still very active, I doubt I would have ventured outside this morning - but I am glad I did! Between 4:02 and 5:49 am, CDT, I counted four Orionids and one early Taurid. The Orionids were all between 2nd and 3rd magnitude, and I managed to image these two near the Pleiades and Rigel at 4:48 and 5:19 am, respectively.

Photo details: Canon Rebel XTi, 16mm Nikkor lens, f/2.8, 20 second exposures at ISO 1600.

I was out testing a motion control dolly and I got a shot of a fireball exploding and leaving a smoke trail that drifted for more than 22 min.