perseid meteor shower tonight! august 12th!

[ABEL]

Space is so cool.

absolutely

 

[angelordevil]

We saw a few tonight before the clouds rolled in. Some really bright ones too

I just saw four beautiful ones...the first and last were especially intense. So fast! Light-speed. I had a bit of a neck-thing happening at first, but I overcame it by lying down on my concrete path...the only drawback was that I quickly became the same cool temperature as said path. A little misty now...next meteor shower, I'm heading out of the city!

 

[ABEL]

lol. i even thought about laying down on the sidewalk here.
but then i saw the security guard outside.
so i ran back inside till he left.
after waiting a few more minutes and my neck really hurting now i came back in.
i still haven't seen another one.
it's funny how your eyes start to play tricks on you though and you keep wondering if you saw one or not.
then you realize it's just a bug flying around.
i'll go out around 3 and 3:30 again but then i'll probably call it quits till the leonid meteor shower in november.
ehm wait that's the week of my civil service wedding when i'll be in the netherlands so i may not get to see that one.
guess i will have to wait till next year.

 

[music.u2]

I stood looking out my window between 2:30am to about 3:50am and only saw 4 shooting stars.. I take it they were just regular ones and nothing to do with the meteor display because they didn't look like anything you described . The clouds cleared up too, but I still couldn't see anything. Is their one every year? I'll have to try again sometime!!

 

[JanuaryStar]

Meh didn't get to see any, it was too cloudy here

Hope to see some pics somewhere though

 

[Lila64]

we went outside for about 10-15 minutes around 12:15am. Didn't really see much. I saw 2 of something flashing by. My neck hurt too much to keep trying to look. Hubby assisted me while I sat in a chair and he tilted it back Then the neighborhood possums arrived, and we had enough. Wish we could have seen more - oh well...

 

[I'm Ready]

What color are these meteor's supposed to be? I was just outside and saw a couple circular red flashy things zip across the sky, but I didn't think they were meteors

definitely not a plane though, maybe a satellite

 

[music.u2]

I just saw white lines flashing across the sky.. I didn't see anything colourful

 

[waynetravis]

I saw about 22 between 2.30 and 4am.

Amazing sight!! First time I seen anything like it.
Lots white/yellow long streaks in the sky that lasted about a second, if you blink you'd miss them. And they accurd about 1 every 5mins for me.

I think the 7th one I saw was the brightest, that thing was huge

 

[Doozer61]

we set our clock for 2 AM and saw about 3 then went back to bed and i got up again at 5:30 but we had clouds then. it was cool but not like the time i saw them in Colorado in Nov 2001. too many city lights here.

 

[bonocomet]

Well I only saw the one, but it was a big one and definitely had a yellow color to it. Usually when I see meteor showers in the past also they are mostly just fast white streaks of light, some yellow... once in awhile if you're lucky you'll get a nice big slower one. Not sure what the red flashes were that you saw I'm ready. Maybe they could have been meteors, but also not sure about the circular part. hmm

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I went out at 10 and saw about 6 of them in about half an hour, it was awesome. I would have stayed out longer but my neck was hurting, even though I watched them while reclining in my chaise lounge. It was starting to get cloudy too.

 

[ABEL]

What color are these meteor's supposed to be? I was just outside and saw a couple circular red flashy things zip across the sky, but I didn't think they were meteors

definitely not a plane though, maybe a satellite

if it had a red blinking light it was a plane.
probably one flying at a high altitude.
meteors would have a streaking tail (sometime short, sometimes long) and they can be different colors from reddish to yellowish to even bluish green.

a satellite would look white just like a star except it would be moving.
usually satellites are seen earlier in the evening before 10pm or so when they can still relfect the sun which is why we see them in the first place.
not because they have lights on them.

i still only saw the one meteor i saw.
i only checked once or twice after my last post before i finally went to bed around 3am.

 

[Mofo]

It was pretty good but I was a bit disappointed as the newspaper said it was expected to have 60-120 meteors per hour between 12 and 3 am we probably saw around 30-40 in total, here's a couple of pics to bad I didn't catch any with my camera

still it was pretty cool just watching at the stars for hours

 

[ABEL]

I stood looking out my window between 2:30am to about 3:50am and only saw 4 shooting stars.. I take it they were just regular ones and nothing to do with the meteor display because they didn't look like anything you described . The clouds cleared up too, but I still couldn't see anything. Is their one every year? I'll have to try again sometime!!

there are several meteor showers per year.
the perseids in august and the leonids in november are probably the most famous.
here's a link that i found with a calendar of meteor showers for 2007:
http://www.jas.org.jo/meto.html
the last column on the calendar in the link gives the estimated number of meteors per hour.
(ZHR The Zenithal Hourly Rate of a meteor shower is the number of meteors from that shower that a single observer with an unobstructed view would see in one hour if the meteor shower radiant was directly overhead and the Limiting Magnitude was 6.5. Under less favourable observing conditions, the number of shower meteors seen is likely to be somewhat lower.)

as far as the meteors you saw, you were probably seeing the same meteor shower.
the intensity and legth of the tail depends on the angle to the earth's atmosphere and your angle to the zenith (the point directly overhead).
the meteors earlier in the evening that come in 'skimming' the earth's atmosphere usually have longer tails and a bit more brilliant.
later in the evening when the earth is pointed more towards the debris from the tail of the comet the meteors are shorter.
the meteors seem to be coming from a 'fixed radiant'.
the meteor showers get their names from the constellation that is closest to the fixed radient.
i.e. the perseid meteor showers seem to be coming from the constellation persius.

a few years ago i stayed up till about 4am and watched the leonid meteor shower one november.
we saw the big fireballs earlier in the evening.
about 4am there were hundereds of itty bitty meteors with short tails.
they were coming straight from leo the lion.
although the meteors were plain short and white it was amazing to see so many coming from one spot like that.
many of the meteors were faint and really fast and wouldn't be seen from light polluted areas.

i also found this on one of the nasa websites:

What does a meteor's color mean?

The material and speed of a meteoroid determine its color as it streaks across the sky:

Element Color
Sodium: Orange-yellow
Iron: Yellow
Magnesium: Blue-green
Calcium: Violet
Silicon: Red

hope that all helps.

 

[ABEL]

It was pretty good but I was a bit disappointed as the newspaper said it was expected to have 60-120 meteors per hour between 12 and 3 am we probably saw around 30-40 in total, here's a couple of pics to bad I didn't catch any with my camera

still it was pretty cool just watching at the stars for hours

awesome pics! what kind of camera did you use? did you use a cable release?
the best way to capture meteors is to leave the aperture open for a couple hours.
you can get some great star trail photos that way too.

 

[Mofo]

Thanks! yes I used cable release, and had the camera at 2.8 aperture, ISO 800, and 30 seconds of exposition time

have you taken pics with the aperture opened for a couple of hours?? the first pic you can see the glow from the city lights we were about 50 km away from the city

 

[ABEL]

Thanks! yes I used cable release, and had the camera at 2.8 aperture, ISO 800, and 30 seconds of exposition time

have you taken pics with the aperture opened for a couple of hours?? the first pic you can see the glow from the city lights we were about 50 km away from the city

yes i have. i have to go to work pretty soon but when i get home tonight i can try to find the pics and scan them in.
one year i did capture a meteor in one of the pics too!

what kind of camera do you have? mine's VERY old lol.
i can't remember the brand name off hand though.
i haven't used it in a couple years

 

[Mofo]

I have the Canon 5D, and for this pics I used a 24.70 mm lense, I work in photography so I would love to see your pics, what gear do you use?

 

[ABEL]

I have the Canon 5D, and for this pics I used a 24.70 mm lense, I work in photography so I would love to see your pics, what gear do you use?

like i said i can't remember off hand what kind of camera it is.
it's an old manual one i bought when i went to art school about 20 years ago lol.
i don't do much photography so you'll probably think they suck haha!

off to work now

 

[JanuaryStar]

Great pics!

 

[waynetravis]

It was pretty good but I was a bit disappointed as the newspaper said it was expected to have 60-120 meteors per hour between 12 and 3 am we probably saw around 30-40 in total, here's a couple of pics to bad I didn't catch any with my camera

still it was pretty cool just watching at the stars for hours

Those are amazing!!

I have a Fuji that has loads of manual settings, can you give me some basic tips on how create pics like this?

 

[Mofo]

thanks for the comments guys!!!

waynetravis can you give me the exact model of your camera? I'll be glad to give you some tips just to know exactly what you have

 

[I'm Ready]

if it had a red blinking light it was a plane.
probably one flying at a high altitude.
meteors would have a streaking tail (sometime short, sometimes long) and they can be different colors from reddish to yellowish to even bluish green.

a satellite would look white just like a star except it would be moving.
usually satellites are seen earlier in the evening before 10pm or so when they can still relfect the sun which is why we see them in the first place.
not because they have lights on them.

i still only saw the one meteor i saw.
i only checked once or twice after my last post before i finally went to bed around 3am.

That would be the fastest moving plane I have ever seen

it went across my entire field of vision of the sky in maybe 20 seconds

 

[Bug]

Stuff like this is why I hate living in Las Vegas.
I didn't see anything, save for the spotlights that some sex toy shop has.

 

[Dusty Bottoms]

Stuff like this is why I hate living in Las Vegas.
I didn't see anything, save for the spotlights that some sex toy shop has.

Yeah but those are beautiful as well

 

[Tiger Edge]

The only way I can appreciate the mass power outages that accompany hurricanes is that you can see all the stars in the sky. Otherwise it's always like 10 or 15 stars in the sky, tops.

I didn't see a single thing last night.

 

[angelordevil]

Great pics, Mofo!

The only way I can appreciate the mass power outages that accompany hurricanes is that you can see all the stars in the sky. Otherwise it's always like 10 or 15 stars in the sky, tops.

I didn't see a single thing last night.

Speaking of "mass outages"...the power actually went out here tonight, a day after a meteor shower...arggh! Just lasted a few minutes, but it really changed the resolution of the sky. Apparently, the next round of meteors is the "Orionids" on October 21st (just thought I'd rub that in, Pla). Country living is really where it's at for these things...basically anywhere in the province, except where I am. I'm migrating inland to the stars for the next show.

So funny how many of us are complaining of sore necks! There's a device of some kind to be invented there...Star Neck 3000. Aside from being called Star Neck 3000, I have absolutely no idea how it would work.

 

[Tiger Edge]

I believe it's called a reclining lounge chair.
And there's a cheaper model out called a blanket!

 

[ABEL]

I have the Canon 5D, and for this pics I used a 24.70 mm lense, I work in photography so I would love to see your pics, what gear do you use?

ok mofo i found my pics...only took me about an hour and a half of searching haha.
and the type of camera is a Pentax K1000.
told ya it was old.
i do have a zoom lens for it...i think it's a 70mm?
i'd have to check on that part.

anyway here are my very bad astronomy photos.
they're old so they didn't scan that well.

comet hale bopp 1997

leonid meteor shower (i think from 1999 or 2000? can't remember exact date sorry).

if you look really closely at the upper left corner you can barely see a meteor.
the very tail end of it is just barely in the pic.
you can tell it's a meteor cuz it goes at an opposite angle of the other star trails.

also if you look at the brighter star trails you can pick out the 'backwards question mark' of the head of leo the lion.


the north star (taken same night as leonid pic above)

re-entry space shuttle columbia july 1999

this was the mission in which Eileen Collins was the first woman shuttle commander.
i also made a photo collage of the pics i took that night and have it signed by her

i think most of these were taken with 400 or 800 speed film.
they are a little grainy.
is it because of the speed of film? or just time for a new camera?
or both?