Perseids
August 12, 2012 7 Comments
Continuing an astronomical theme, here’s a short video of the Perseid meteor shower. I took it from Lake Mary and saw 55 meteors during the couple of hours I was filming, but it’s hard to get them to show up on a digital camera so there are only about ten visible here (and then only if you watch it in fullscreen HD). Eventually the moon rose and weakened the viewing (it was a bit misty down by the lake), so I had a good excuse to go home to bed.
About stevegrand
Fantastic. I wish that big city skies will become clearer one day so that people can once again remember what it was like to gaze into the night sky from their campsite in the suburbs.
Yes, out here in the desert at 7,000ft it’s absolutely fantastic! The Milky Way actually looks like milk, and I feel like I could easily fall off the planet and go spinning out into the cosmos! Flagstaff is actually the first Dark Sky City. Since there are so many telescopes round here, there are strict rules about lighting.
Hi Steve,
I hope you’re doing well. Norm shared your link with me and I have to say that your video is absolutely breathtaking! I’ve forgotten how beautiful the night sky actually is. When I was a child, my father was big on taking us all out for long drives anywhere he felt like going (gasoline was about 0.10 cents a gallon back then.) We had a really old MG that was a convertible, and we’d go driving around to some remote desert or wilderness area, always at night, taking in the wonderful smells of sage, pine, dill, and other pungent fauna. Often, we were so far out there, that there were no city lights to interfere with the night sky. I’d be in the back of the car, leaning my head on the back edge of the seat so I could look straight up into the sky and take in all of the stars. That was magnificent. I really wish that there were strict rules about lighting everywhere, as more and more places are becoming lit-up like christmas trees. I really miss those days of being able to see the Milky Way at night in its full glory. Your video brings back some great childhood memories. Thanks for sharing this! Cheers! Lisa
Thanks for the evocative image, Lisa! I hope you’re doing well too, and feeling much better now.
Very wonderful, and as by coincidence, I saw a picture of you just 15 minutes ago, then to find a email of this.
I’m going to play C3 again, like good old days…
Hi Steve
What exposure, timings etc did you use for the shots?
Hans…
Hi Hans, they were 30 secs at f2.8, ISO 1600, taken at 35-second intervals to give the camera time to process them. So there was a lot of noise from the high ISO and a lot more from the long exposure. The skies here are stunning, but 99% of the stars I can see just disappear in the noise.