Perseid Meteor Shower 2016
Taken in the early hours of this morning (approx. 3.00am) no wonder I feel tired!
Alarm was set for 1.30 - cloud obscured the skies, but then started to clear. I had already set the equipment up in the garage and then just had to open the door and avoid knocking it all over in the dark.
Not the ideal location as there is quite a lot of light pollution locally, but couldn't face driving to the coast after having been on the road all day. Also wanted to have a decent point of reference in the shots.
This is a composite of about 10 shots and there are at least 5 shooting star trails emanating from the North East Perseids atmosphere entry point. If you zoom in you can see a hint of the green / red colouring (green from Magnesium traces in the debris, red from it burning Nitrogen and Oxygen in the atmosphere).
There was also a very spectacular 'fireball' - of course not where the camera was pointing but low to the east it was very bright, reminded me of that Russian dash cam video.
Great to see - and did seem to be more frequent that previous occasions. Counted about 70 over a 2 and a half hour period.
If you want to try it, the settings over are a good starting point. To work out your exposure use the 600 rule - divide 600 by the true focal length of your lens (so 35mm on full frame 17 seconds, on crop sensor 10 seconds). This will avoid you introducing star trails on individual shots.
Sturdy tripod and shutter release locked down - or interval timer if you camera has one (my 7D Mk II does but would have also introduced more noise and captured less light with the shorter exposure).
Perseid Meteor Shower 2016
Taken in the early hours of this morning (approx. 3.00am) no wonder I feel tired!
Alarm was set for 1.30 - cloud obscured the skies, but then started to clear. I had already set the equipment up in the garage and then just had to open the door and avoid knocking it all over in the dark.
Not the ideal location as there is quite a lot of light pollution locally, but couldn't face driving to the coast after having been on the road all day. Also wanted to have a decent point of reference in the shots.
This is a composite of about 10 shots and there are at least 5 shooting star trails emanating from the North East Perseids atmosphere entry point. If you zoom in you can see a hint of the green / red colouring (green from Magnesium traces in the debris, red from it burning Nitrogen and Oxygen in the atmosphere).
There was also a very spectacular 'fireball' - of course not where the camera was pointing but low to the east it was very bright, reminded me of that Russian dash cam video.
Great to see - and did seem to be more frequent that previous occasions. Counted about 70 over a 2 and a half hour period.
If you want to try it, the settings over are a good starting point. To work out your exposure use the 600 rule - divide 600 by the true focal length of your lens (so 35mm on full frame 17 seconds, on crop sensor 10 seconds). This will avoid you introducing star trails on individual shots.
Sturdy tripod and shutter release locked down - or interval timer if you camera has one (my 7D Mk II does but would have also introduced more noise and captured less light with the shorter exposure).