The Perseid meteor shower

Where are all the stargazers? Why out watching one of the best meteor showers that we'll have for 2005!

I'm not real obsessed by stargazing, but do try to enjoy it once in awhile. JOshooter and myself were out for awhile tonight and saw a few really good ones! Nothing near the 60-100 per hour that we were hoping to see though.

We didn't venture far from Anchorage though (like right in our backyard!), so the light pollution surely prevented us from seeing more. Watched a satellite orbit past a few times...I should check out the orbits/sync times to id it.

JOshooter had his Inova 24/7 with him, gave off a nice level of red beam/spill to keep from tripping up while navigating from the back door down the deck stairs and into the yard, thus saving our nightvision! Darn, should have held onto the Night Owl nightvision scope "just a little longer" - wonder what the meteor shower would have looked like through that!?

We've got a Meade ETX60 telesope. It's not a bad scope for us. We've only used it a couple times. Would be nice to get the cable that hooks it up the a laptop or PDA...too much technology for me! (ohhhhhh nooooo, not another expensive hobby!) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bah, expensive hobby? I shouldn't suggest you take up astrophotography then, because you'll end up buying the mounts to attach the camera to the telescope, followed by the expensive cameras and the longest telephoto lenses you can possibly get your hands on - that is a madness unto itself! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I would love to have the opportunity to get to a place far from light pollution but then again I'd have to hop on a plane to do so.

Oh we have some really nice spots fairly close - but I didn't plan any trips for this viewing (should have though!). I still have my old 35, would love to have snapped some time exposures!

We already find ourselves wanting more powerful eyepieces...

We've got catalogs and like to "window shop". I'm in a "situation" at the moment where I should be doing more selling than buying though!!

Go ahead, then get the film scanned and show it to us /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 35mm has excellent resolution, the only difficulties are in converting that to digital format, but I hear a number of 1-hour labs are now offering scan-and-burn-to-CD services for those shooting film.

A fellow CPF'er has been talking to me both about digital cameras and stargazing, he's into both and has shown me some examples of optics. I am quite sure those will make our little lights pale in comparison with their price tags! Good glass is never cheap.

Regarding your situation, I heard you're feeling a little under the weather at the moment. Hope you get well soon!

Thanks - in some cases "time really does heal"! I'm hoping & praying for the best!

I should dig that camera out, I bet it has film in it from...ohhhhh, let's just say "too many years ago"!!

I've got a little slide scanner (I think the name "Prime" is on it), I could probably do an novice job of transferring.

Please, don't get me started! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

was that last night?
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E.T.

You mentioned IDing a satellite, hows that done? Is their a list of all sats, then lists its stationary longitude? Or Latitude...

yep, the two last nights.
It was pretty awesome, especially when you find a spot where it's completely dark adn the sky is super clear...
Plus I finally got a chance to use my red beam filter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Rick... thanks for starting this thread!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif The other night I was out sitting by the pool and counted three very bright and very fast "shooting stars" all within the space of about 5 minutes... couldn't make my wishes fast enough! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif Later, I was outside again and saw a few more. This was Wednesday night. I made the comment to my husband that there must be some kind of meteor shower coming on or something. Nailed that one!! YES!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Here in the desert, we have the clearest most beautiful night skies... with no light pollution at all! Last night we had one hell of a lightning storm that followed a monsoon. Here are a few of the pictures we were able to get...


This one is cool... what do you all see here?

Now there you go, trying to get me to dig out that 35mm!! Thanks for posting those pics!!

Trying to watch my wallet, and I'm telling you I GUARANTEE I'm headed to get that 35mm out!

I need to fool around with my digital to see what I can do, sooooo much easier!

Kel, what camera/settings did you use?

Awesome photos, Sasha. Thanks for sharing them with us!

Rick... the camera is a Sony Mavica... digital. My husband did the picture taking so the only thing I know is that he had the shutter speed at like 8 seconds? If he had any other fancy settings, I have no idea what they were... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Very nice pictures Sasha!
I tried, for the first time, to photograph lightning this summer..didn't work.
I have done some astronomical viewing...and can only dream about observing from a desert location...
Haven't done much observing lately..too busy with my other hobbies.
I was looking forward to seeing the meteor shower...but too bad..very cloudy with rain close by.

I saw the one in, I think, 1992 were they had predicted a Perseids "Meteor Storm"..it turned out a little less than predicted but it still was sometimes breathtaking...
I saw one that I will never forget - at about 2am, it SLOWLY came from the NE (Perseid radient) and traveled to the NW. It lit up the whole northern sky like lightning and left a large smoke trail behind it...it looked like "War of the Worlds"!!
Maybe next time I'll be ready with a camera.

The brightest meteor I've seen in recent memory was during the Leonid meteor shower (storm) of 2001.
Maybe a magnitude -10.

The projectile itself was an eye-piercing whitish violet with a darker violet coma, and it had a long tail colored green & white with purple and red edges. There was no persistent train; at least none I could see for more than a second or two with all of the sodium vapor streetlamps outside my window polluting my view.

It wouldn't suprise me at all if that particular one left some elements behind in our atmosphere that aren't even on the periodic table yet.

Is it visible again tonight?

It was supposed to "peak" the last couple nights, though they should still be visible for a few more days - but certainly subsiding.

I'll be out again tonight "gazing"! I read that just after midnight "local" (wherever you are I guess?) would be the best time.

Just have to be patient and if standing, realize you're going to get a sore neck. Reclining lawnchair or sleeping bag mat on the ground works just great!!

I was just out and nothing yet. Thinking back to the other night, it was around midnight that I started seeing them. I was waiting up for my husband to get home from recovering a drowning victim from the river... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif Putting all of that together... the grand show above and the death of someone below... makes one feel pretty damn insignificant. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wow.gif

Wow, those are some BEAUTIFUL long exposure pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

Such is the power of nature...

For the rest who might be interested, I'll make a guess based on the 8 seconds shutter - tripod, ISO 100, small aperture, leave the shutter open to gather the bright flash of the lightning while not overexposing the background. Sigman, now you know what to do, go get that digital /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I shoot digital exclusively, no more film since 5 years ago, but most of the stuff one learns on 35mm film (not that I learned much, I did my learning on digital too) applies.

[ QUOTE ]
Luxman said:
I saw the one in, I think, 1992 were they had predicted a Perseids "Meteor Storm"..it turned out a little less than predicted but it still was sometimes breathtaking...
I saw one that I will never forget - at about 2am, it SLOWLY came from the NE (Perseid radient) and traveled to the NW. It lit up the whole northern sky like lightning and left a large smoke trail behind it...it looked like "War of the Worlds"!!
Maybe next time I'll be ready with a camera.

[/ QUOTE ]

I remember a beautiful meteor shower from '92 or '93. I swear on my life we *heard* one of them. I later read that some theorize (possible human memory error follows) that the meteor causes ionization which creates radio waves which vibrate blades of grass.

Anyone else here ever heard a meteor? I think most will agree that there is little chance to hear any noise that they may create from SO DARN FAR away.

Saw some good ones, and a GREAT one tonight!!! It had the classic tail with colors and what appeared to be debris/bits/pieces breaking off as it streaked across the sky! This was definitely the second best I've seen in my life! The BEST one was in Phoenix and basically lit the sky/horizon all the way across with a HUGE train/tail (I guess that's what you call them?). LOTS of colors and bits/pieces breaking off. Later they said it was probably a piece of space junk re-entering.

Saw some more satellites.
[ QUOTE ]
bobisculous said:
You mentioned IDing a satellite, hows that done? Is their a list of all sats, then lists its stationary longitude? Or Latitude...

[/ QUOTE ]
I "was" going to tell you to just read the "tail number"! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I used to use a program (and can't remember the name of it or find it - will have to search my other spare drive) that showed the satellite tracks, identified them, selectable views of the earth using "globe view, map view, sky view. One can search the WWW and find freeware/shareware satellite tracking programs. I hope I'll find the one I used to use. I'm an idiot when it comes to this science - but it sure is interesting!!

"Here's" a nice page to prowl around and check out some wares. I was playing with "this" one earlier this evening.

Didn't dig out the 35mm yet, my digital camera won't allow me to do a time exposure (or at least I've not figured it out yet!).

Ok, gotta add the lights used...I had a green laser for pointing out the satellites and other miscellaneous objects (worked great!) and a custom double head (possibly by CNC Dan - can't remember where I got it) body with a McGizmo Cyan side-emitter modded E2E bezel and an Infinity Ultra at the other end.

JOshooter had his Inova 24/7 again and a Gerber Recon (set on green). Brite One (JOshooter's brother who has registered but never posted) had an eternaLight Raven using it on the green or red mode.

Had to give the "torch rundown" list!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif