OT: Perseid visibility (sp?)

[Gwydi]

Since I can't find a straight answer to this question on any Google search, somebody here might know -- is the Perseid meteor shower visible from East Coast Australia, and if so, when?

Thanks,
G.

[Sicklecell666]

At its peak around the nights of Aug. 11 and 12, the shower can
produce 50 to 100 fast, bright meteors per hour for any observer with
a wide-open view of a dark sky.

[Gwydi]

At its peak around the nights of Aug. 11 and 12, the shower can
produce 50 to 100 fast, bright meteors per hour for any observer with
a wide-open view of a dark sky.

OK ... I was thinking of taking some long-exposure photographs (real film!), so does it matter what direction I point the camera in?

Thanks,
G.

[vurt]

At its peak around the nights of Aug. 11 and 12, the shower can
produce 50 to 100 fast, bright meteors per hour for any observer with
a wide-open view of a dark sky.

OK ... I was thinking of taking some long-exposure photographs (real film!), so does it matter what direction I point the camera in?

Thanks,
G.

up not down preferably

[Sicklecell666]

Since it's called the Persieds, it's radiant point of origin is the Perseus constellation. That means more or less most trails will have that as the common source, but it will not apply to every single one of them, just most.

If you are unable to see that constellation in your hemisphere, just point your lense at the Zenith, & maybe try pointing into the east as well, but make sure you are using as slow a focal lense as possible (28mm or less)

Keep in mind that once you drop below 16mm, you are gonna pick up things in the fisheye like the tripod.

If your camera has a timed shutter release, use that with a cable, so the stability is beter.

The old Nikon F1, 2, & 3 cameras are ideal for this.

AS well as an Olympus M-1 or 2

[Meffy]

Meteor showers are visible all over the planet, wherever it's dark and clear. You'll see more meteors after midnight, when you're on the side of the Earth moving into the stream of cometary debris.

You should point your camera in the direction of the radiant, which is in the constellation Perseus. That's in the northern sky, possibly near or below your horizon. The radiant is the point in the sky from which the meteors seem to fan out (it's really where you're looking straight into the center of the stream of oncoming bits of stuff). Don't worry if you can't see the radiant itself, meteors will trace outward from that point so you should still see plenty of sparkle.

For long exposures, be sure to have a dark sky so your background won't get washed out. A wide-angle lens would be very helpful here, the wider the better.

Best of luck!

Meffy

[Sicklecell666]

At its peak around the nights of Aug. 11 and 12, the shower can
produce 50 to 100 fast, bright meteors per hour for any observer with
a wide-open view of a dark sky.

OK ... I was thinking of taking some long-exposure photographs (real film!), so does it matter what direction I point the camera in?

Thanks,
G.

One other thing you can try:

Find Polar south & aim at that, so your star trails are revolving around it in a really long exposure, but make sure you reduce your apeture settings unless you wanna blow out the image in light saturation.

I recommend getting a couple of 'dry runs' in before you do it, so you don't make the metoer shower a practice session. Write down the settings you use for each shot & compare them all when you get the film developed.

[Gwydi]

I did some star trail photographs last year that worked out reasonably well considering I live in suburbia and therefore can only dream of dark skies. I don't have a fancy camera or lenses but I do have a shutter cable. I could scan some of the photos if you want to see the results I got .. ?

Unfortunately, Polar south happens to be in the direction of some fairly bright terrestrial light sources and they blow the film out in a matter of minutes. However, if I drive to the beach I've got a completely unobscured, completely dark, Eastern horizon

G.

[Meffy]

Write down the settings you use for each shot & compare them all when you get the film developed.

Yes! Essential for all sky photography. All photography of any sort, IMO... but particularly sky.

Meffy

[vurt]

. I could scan some of the photos if you want to see the results I got .. ?


G.

but of course

[CypherOne]

Write down the settings you use for each shot & compare them all when you get the film developed.

Yes! Essential for all sky photography. All photography of any sort, IMO... but particularly sky.

Meffy

not really sky tho is it?

[Gwydi]

. I could scan some of the photos if you want to see the results I got .. ?
G.

but of course

Here ya go .. the photos are not in great condition, but it's a fair indication of the results I can get from around my house.

Nice and clean:


The streak down the right-hand side really is there on the photo, at first I thought it was a hair on the scanner. Not sure what it is ... ?


Hey, who said that plane could fly across my picture?

[Meffy]

not really sky tho is it?

Oh, sure. Sky photography includes more than photos of deep space objects and solar-system bodies. It also includes meteors (which are neither fish nor fowl, being on their way from space to Earth); clouds, storms, tornadoes, fronts, and lightning; sunsets and sunrises; rainbows; solar and lunar halos, sundogs, sun-pillars, circumsolar arcs, and related refractive phenomena... all sorts of stuff.

For many purposes it can be thought of as a distinct sub-discipline of photography. This makes sense because the nature of what you're concentrating on is so different (a light emitter instead of reflector) from the usual subjects.

Meffy

[Meffy]

Here ya go

Ooo, nice. :-) More, more!

Meffy

[Sicklecell666]

That streak is probably a satellite. It looks like one of the Irridiums they put up about 8 years ago. They are spaced in orbit equidistantly & typically mar everyone's photos

The changes in the streak are the satellite's rotation, which is pretty fast. On almost any given day, right after the sun sets you can usually see one if you spend a minute looking between the meridian & the western sky as the last light from the sun hits em.














either that or it's a UFO & that pic is worth millions..