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Perseids 2010

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Author Topic: Perseids 2010  (Read 1921 times)
Padraig OBrien
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« Reply #30 on: August 12, 2010, 09:07:45 pm »

Didnt see any last night but having a go tonight for sure, im being spoiled with lots of clear skies so hope it goes well. I should be looking N NE right???
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« Reply #31 on: August 12, 2010, 10:26:43 pm »

Tyler, that's the best count from a single observer I've heard so far!

Padraig, look anywhere in the sky, N to NE is also a good spot but you can get them anywhere, best of luck.

Waiting for a clear gap here now...
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Tyler
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« Reply #32 on: August 13, 2010, 05:43:05 am »

Got storms to the west thinking It will be cloudy the rest of the night. Here are a couple from the other night...




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« Reply #33 on: August 13, 2010, 02:41:34 pm »

Well done Tyler!, two excellent catches there, the image of the Perseid and fog is a very cool  Smiley

I was clouded out almost all night long, I was parked in a field watching cloud for a long time while listening to Talk Sport radio in the car, Sir. Patrick Moore was being interviewed and he was having the same cloud problems as I was. Listeners were ringing in with their own meteor sightings which made the atmosphere quite cool. At 02.30 I got a great 15 min clearance and observed 24 Perseids in that time which was very impressive, most of them in Ursa Major too, I saw 7 of them within 5 min's then back to clouds. I will be trying again tonight.
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« Reply #34 on: August 13, 2010, 07:06:45 pm »

Hello everyone. Tyler, those are great images. Are you in Minnesota now, or still in Nebraska? The trees look like they would be Minnesota. Anyway, I went on my Perseids adventure last night up to the mountains. Spectacular dark, clear skies, get to the point where it's hard to differentiate the contellations from one another. I went up with two friends and only stayed until 1 a.m. so chances are we missed out on the best show. The other two gentlemen needed thier beuaty sleep and unfortunately I didn't drive. In 4 1/2 hours we counted 262 Perseids and 24 Sporatic meteors. There were so many mateors in Sagittarius Region one of us turned around and kept an eye on the southern sky. All in all a great showing for so early in the night. Ironic, the best meteor of the night was a sporatic that was traveling due north through Cygnus with a long, graceful smoke train. I would estimate it's magnitude about -5. Photography was a real disapponitment, as usual with meteors. 295 images, 1 Perseid, 3 satellites. As with others, missed it by this much from being in the field of view on so many images. As Tyler mentioned, fast glass really helps, I probably had another half dozen that didn't record. Overall, a great night though. Will be with my Astronomy Club tomorrow night, will hope for some success then also.

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« Reply #35 on: August 13, 2010, 08:32:42 pm »

Unlucky in my case unfortunately... YES! It is still sunny and hot... err... very hot (+38C) in the daytime, but the sky was no way good last night, and seems to be completely clouded out tonight...  Undecided
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« Reply #36 on: August 13, 2010, 08:35:17 pm »

Great images all. I did a watch from 23.30BST till 03.19BST. but only managed a count of 48 but I was mostly looking where I had pointed the camera! Saw some nice ones which left trains for several seconds but out of all the images I took I only caught one Perseid. Unlike the observers in the west I had almost totally clear skies until it clouded over at 03.30BST. The Milky Way was a treat, but I have to say that the kit lens is hopeless for meteors! I could have had more on camera but the lens just didn't pick them up. I shall use the 50mm 1.8 tonight if it stays clear. Also caught these strange satellites which went over side by side.

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« Reply #37 on: August 13, 2010, 11:23:52 pm »

Great photos John. That is a peculiar shot with the two satellites almost side by side. It looks like ones I've done of Iridium Flares by stacking them. Anyway, good catch. I whole heartedly agree about the kit lens, very disapponting last night. I had my 50 1.8 with me, and kept weighing the difference between a much faster, smaller field of view, possibly catch a real bright one, or almost surely catch a bright one with my slower kit lens. I guess one is better than none. Still disappointed though. Tyler was going to try his 50 1.8, I wonder hoe he did? Good luck in the nights to come!
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« Reply #38 on: August 13, 2010, 11:46:00 pm »

Thanks Richard, yeah I've come to the conclusion that the kit lens is not a "night" lens and is very poor quality. I know what you mean re the sats if the stars were not in focus I would have thought it a double image, they were there though as I could see them naked eye. I've not seen sats so close before, wonder what they were? the time on the image is 02.28BST.
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John9929.
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« Reply #39 on: August 14, 2010, 01:11:16 am »

Some smashing reports & images guys. Glad several of us were able to see something of last night's peak.

Image wise, I only managed one fairly bright but off centre image from last night (12-13 August) out of around 300 shots of 20 seconds duration each.

Despite that I was nonetheless treated to a very respectable show, despite viewing from my back garden in Oxford. Certainly, as far as weather conditions were concerned, I couldn't really have wished for much better. Yes, there was some cloud around when I first started watching at around 10.30pm BST but much of the night up until around 2am was pretty much clear, transparency was very good for my location, the cool temperature was spot on for my liking - and of course the Moon was well out of the way. By around 1am the whole world seemed to have gone to bed (wimps!  Grin) and the only noise to interrupt the still of the night was the camera opening & shutting to the tune of my remote timer (the 8GB cf card that I'd bought earlier in the day also meant that I had no worries about filling the entire card before the night was over). Inbetween the odd streaks of light was it nice to just sit back with my box of micro chips & cup of tea and just enjoy the various splendors on offer with the Pleiades rising again in the ENE and of course Jupiter very much dominating the entire vista!!

Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end, so they say (but why?  :scratch: ) as this quick 'rough & ready' animation shows (animation is around 1mb in size so may take a few moments to load):


I was a little disappointed that I didn't have a bit more luck in capturing a few more meteors as I was really hoping to stack a few frames together - however, c'est la vie! The jpg image is 20 seconds at f2 with my 50mm lens, IDAS filter & Canon 350D.

I also did a quick animation of the various frames before & after the meteor & apologies again if it takes a few moments to load:


Overall, a very pleasant night & here's to the Geminids! 
« Last Edit: August 14, 2010, 03:39:25 am by Big Dipper » Report Spam   Logged

Remember:- If all else fails, read the Instruction Manual! Grin
 


Andy
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« Reply #40 on: August 14, 2010, 01:52:45 am »

Some great shots here Richard, John and Andy! Meteors are dang hard work lol, I took nearly 500 shots and had just 4 meteors go through the frame. Richard - Impressive count!!! Yeah I'm in Minnesota now, but heading back to Nebraska in a couple days for school (will be there till next May or June). Also, both the shots I posted were with the 50mm f/1.8. Its almost necessity to have f/2.8 or faster. Was clouded out last night, but tonight looks to be clear so looking forward to more meteors Smiley

Hoping to beat my count from last year which was 273... I'm at 225 (9 a few nights ago, then 214). Only need 48!
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« Reply #41 on: August 14, 2010, 04:57:41 pm »

Great report and shots Andy, thanks Tyler!
Did another long watch this morning from midnight to 04.00BST. Counted 79 meteors all Perseids but two. Beautiful clear sky with a stunning Milky Way. Observed numerous sats some flashing as they went. This image is the only one that I can see with a meteor on and has to be the miss of the year! How half a degree in positioning would have made it a classic Cry I used the 50mm 1.8 and this image was 20 secs at f2.5 ISO1600, I thought I actually had this guy but it was not to be. The wee 50 is some lens!
« Last Edit: August 14, 2010, 04:59:39 pm by John9929 » Report Spam   Logged

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Conor McDonald
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« Reply #42 on: August 15, 2010, 10:41:42 am »

wow the quailty of the shots here is excellent. Here is a terrible shot of a little one caught through cloud

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« Reply #43 on: August 15, 2010, 05:57:06 pm »

Great image Conor, love the dramatic contrast with the clouds.
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markt
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« Reply #44 on: August 15, 2010, 11:50:15 pm »

Hi all!

Greetings from Hawaii, you all certainly have been getting some great reports and images.   I've managed quite a few perseids, not as many as I would like as 11 hours time difference to what i'm used to has been making me sleepy at all the wrong points - normally when i've been laid on a sun lounger at night gazing skyward  Roll Eyes

Hey ho tho, tis all good fun, and there's still some to be seen yet even if activity is falling.

Best wishes, Mark Smiley
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