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Author Topic: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"  (Read 3647 times)

Some Guy

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Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« on: August 12, 2015, 10:38:42 am »

So said our TV news weatherman.

Well, I got squat.

Not one in 3 hours of shooting time-lapse with an intervalometer.  Exp. set 15 seconds, f/3.5, ISO 160. 14-24mm zoom set wide (14mm).  Zip.  Zero.  Nada.

Just waded through all of the JPG's and not one streak of the northeast sky.  Lots of nice white dots of stars though.

 :(

SG
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spidermike

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2015, 11:45:36 am »


Some higher authority is yankin' yer chain


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnQKET83qKg

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Some Guy

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2015, 12:26:53 pm »

Some higher authority is yankin' yer chain


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnQKET83qKg



Yeah, I think you're right.  Every year they think this Perseids Meteor Shower thing is going to be "The Big Annual Astronomical Show in the Sky" and it fizzles, and they show something shot by NASA back in 1970.

Just like some comets they expect to be "Even bigger than last time it passed by here" which is more likely, "Where is it?  What tail?"

Oh well, least the intervalometer got a workout and didn't miss a beat.

SG
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NancyP

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2015, 01:11:13 pm »

Hope springs eternal. I am going out tonight for my annual attempt. Get out of town to an "orange, bordering on red" light pollution zone (that's the best that I can get with an under one hour one-way drive - I have to get up and work tomorrow bright and early). Set up camera (Canon 6D) at ISO 1600, with Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 at f/1.4, aim at Ursa Minor, manual focus on Live view 10x, set intervalometer 15 sec exposures, 1 sec gaps. Roll out camping mat, lie on my back, and stare up while camera is doing its thing. At least I should get a few visual sightings. Useful article:
http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/nightscapes/#MeteorPhotography
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Bob_B

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2015, 01:39:14 pm »

With the Perseids, you just never know. A few years ago, I saw three bolides (fireballs) within a 90 minute viewing. The next year, just a few minor meteors over 3 hours. I usually see a few if the summer haze isn't too bad. Just have to be patient. In any case, I'll be out tonite fending off the mosquitoes and hoping the glare from Baltimore and DC isn't too awful. Best of luck to all.

    Bob
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MattBurt

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2015, 01:53:24 pm »

I may go out tonight as well. Nice dark skies around here. My last outing I would see one in a part of the sky where the camera wasn't pointed. So I'd adjust it and then I see another where the camera was previously pointed. Ahhh!

I camped out near West Maroon Pass last year for the Perseids and managed to get a few that I used to make this composite. The light painting came out a bit harsh because I couldn't find my favorite lantern that day.
IMGP5199-Edit by Matt Burt, on Flickr
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KMRennie

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2015, 09:41:44 am »

This is my tale of Perseids.
I live 15 mile away from a dark sky area and the weather forecast was for clear skies. So out I went Nikon D810/ Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens. This is Cawfields on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland England. In the end I took 142 shots and recorded no meteors. However I saw about 50 in this time many of which would have been in the field of view of the camera. Most of the meteors were dim with only one flashing across 1/3rd of the sky and leaving the trail visible for several seconds after the event. Why no trails recorded? The answer probably lies in this article, Link from Bob_B http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/nightscapes/#MeteorPhotography. I suspect that if I set my ISO to 12800 and set the intervalometer to 10s exposure one shot every 12s no long exposure NR I may get some and if the skies remain clear I will try from my garden tonight. I am attaching my best shot, so far, The orange glow was totally invisible at the time but I suspect is the sun well below the horizon as the bearing is where the sun should be but I am more than willing to be disproved.
For me it was a pleasant couple of hours even if the images showed no trails, many satellites however but they are easy to spot as they show in subsequent frames. I now need to read about astrophotography, learn how to stack frames and how to make the most of night shots, I do hope that it is not a 10,000 hour job.
Any advice welcome
Ken
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sdwilsonsct

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2015, 09:54:38 am »

So said our TV news weatherman.


The media gets paid to make news. The Perseids are usually poor in my experience.

But then, there were the Leonids of 1999: good, as advertised. You could check with a specialized site like Sky & Telescope or SpaceWeather before commiting to a long drive.

NancyP

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2015, 10:29:29 am »

40 miles to even medium-bright sites. Just can't do it and show up at work at 7:30 AM alert and rested. Darn these meteors! They need to come on Friday or Saturday night.  ::)  I have most success with moon and with Milky Way.
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KMRennie

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2015, 12:22:57 pm »

Having sorted through my 140 plus images I have found 2 meteors. One is 3/4 up the tree just going behind the branch. 2 images one lit by cheap Aldi torch the other 20s later with the meteor. This is Walltown Crags in Northumberland, Hadrian's wall is 300m to the left.
Nikon D810 Samyang 14mm f2.8 ISO 1600 15s. Still a lot I need to learn about processing star shots.
Does anyone know how to align star shots? I have watched the video at lonely speck http://www.lonelyspeck.com/stacking-noise-reduction/ and it works fine for the milky way but not with dim stars.
Ken
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MattBurt

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2015, 12:41:46 pm »

I have nice dark skies less than 5 Miles from home so I went out to see what I could get. I seem to be on a losing streak with my past few attempts and it continued into last night. Clouds, or really just one big cloud prevented me from seeing or photographing any meteors. It was a nice calm and mild night to be out on the rocks so not a total loss. Here's what my view looked like. You can just see some stars around the edges of this cloud. I was out from about 11-1 and it started raining as I was packing to leave. Pretty sleepy today...
IMGP0114-Edit-2 by Matt Burt, on Flickr
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sdwilsonsct

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2015, 01:09:35 pm »

Does anyone know how to align star shots?

I used to have some success with the "Difference method".

Bob_B

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Re: Perseids Meteor Shower: "You'll see hundreds per hour!"
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2015, 01:35:45 pm »

I went out from 11 to around midnight. Saw two faint trails, no captures. Too much patchy clouds and light from Baltimore. (I suspect that Ravens stadium had all its lights on as a test for tonight's preseason game.) Bummer, but the temperature was mild and the mosquitoes were not out in droves. I may try again tonight.
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