Perseid Meteor Shower Peaking this Weekend

[Redmanss]

Just a reminder to the fellow star gazers out there, the Perseids are peaking the next two nights. With the late crescent moonrise and being on a weekend to boot, should be some pretty good viewing.

https://www.space.com/32868-perseid-meteor-shower-guide.html

I'll be trying to get some on camera, we'll see how well I fuck that one up since I've never tried astrophotography. I'll at least be bringing the spotter with me since Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are also great viewing right now.

 

[_Windrider_]

All I see is thunderstorms unfortunately.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Thank you for the update. I'm hoping that we can coordinate here, to get out for a drive (away from this city) sometime around 1:00 am and partake is the show.

 

[Maggot]

Thanks for the reminder. I thought that big red thing I saw last night was Mars. It must be perihelic opposition (had to look that one up).

 

[ArmyJerry]

hopefully we get a few hits on the northeast and west coasts.

 

[Redmanss]

hopefully we get a few hits on the northeast and west coasts.

Considering it's nothing but comet dust, fat chance there. But we can all wish upon a falling star..

 

[Strykervet]

If you have NV you can see stuff much better, even with light pollution or some clouds. There's a lot more going on up there you can't see, NV makes the night sky come alive.

 

[Redmanss]

Got a few good shots, three in the first and two in the second, followed by a few of the better shots of the sky. I was only actively taking photos for about an hour, missed many from taking pics of one part of the sky while a beautiful bright meteor streaked a different part.

Shots taken with a Sony RX100-III, 24mm, F1.8, ISO 1600, 25" exposure length off a mini-Manfrotto in RAW. Post processing for noise reduction only. Not too bad for a three year old, pocket sized, 1" sensor camera in the hands of an amateur.

These are pretty large ~30MB .png images, so be aware they may take a bit to load up when you click on the thumbnail.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Redman, good job. Those are great shots. We here haven't learned how to take 'night/star shots' with My Lady's camera yet. But we'd like to. Those pics are elevating you to "Meteor-ologist" status! Them 'r PROfessional quality.

 

[_Windrider_]

Got a few good shots, three in the first and two in the second, followed by a few of the better shots of the sky. I was only actively taking photos for about an hour, missed many from taking pics of one part of the sky while a beautiful bright meteor streaked a different part.

Shots taken with a Sony RX100-III, 24mm, F1.8, ISO 1600, 25" exposure length off a mini-Manfrotto in RAW. Post processing for noise reduction only. Not too bad for a three year old, pocket sized, 1" sensor camera in the hands of an amateur.

These are pretty large ~30MB .png images, so be aware they may take a bit to load up when you click on the thumbnail.

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Very nice. I use this for astrophotography. The image in the viewfinder is the solar eclipse from last august

 

[Redmanss]

Redman, good job. Those are great shots. We here haven't learned how to take 'night/star shots' with My Lady's camera yet. But we'd like to. Those pics are elevating you to "Meteor-ologist" status! Them 'r PROfessional quality.

If you have a camera with a focal length of F2.0 or lower and can run 20"+ exposure time, you should be able to get some great shots, even if it's just a micro 4/3 sensor. My little Sony does great, the bigger RX10 M4 I have is a F2.8 so I didn't bother taking it out last night.

Here's a quick guide to settings I used for reference, might be helpful setting your wife's camera up: https://www.lonelyspeck.com/sony-rx100-series-astrophotography-review/

TD, that's an awesome rig and shot. I only have my Vortex Razor spotter for star gazing, was able to at least see the lines in Jupiter and a very clear view of Saturn w/ rings last night. I want to eventually get at least an 8" with tracking telescope, that's far out in the budgeting list for now though.

 

[_Windrider_]

If you have a camera with a focal length of F2.0 or lower and can run 20"+ exposure time, you should be able to get some great shots, even if it's just a micro 4/3 sensor. My little Sony does great, the bigger RX10 M4 I have is a F2.8 so I didn't bother taking it out last night.

Here's a quick guide to settings I used for reference, might be helpful setting your wife's camera up: https://www.lonelyspeck.com/sony-rx100-series-astrophotography-review/

TD, that's an awesome rig and shot. I only have my Vortex Razor spotter for star gazing, was able to at least see the lines in Jupiter and a very clear view of Saturn w/ rings last night. I want to eventually get at least an 8" with tracking telescope, that's far out in the budgeting list for now though.

This is a 4” scope with tracking. I got it on sale a few years back for like 399. It’s not the best but it’s a good get started setup until I find something a bit bigger. With a phone cord, I can control via laptop. Once it knows where it is it can find and track anything in its database.

It also makes an awesome spotting setup for the ELR stuff.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

If you have a camera with a focal length of F2.0 or lower and can run 20"+ exposure time, you should be able to get some great shots, even if it's just a micro 4/3 sensor. My little Sony does great, the bigger RX10 M4 I have is a F2.8 so I didn't bother taking it out last night.

Here's a quick guide to settings I used for reference, might be helpful setting your wife's camera up: https://www.lonelyspeck.com/sony-rx100-series-astrophotography-review/

TD, that's an awesome rig and shot. I only have my Vortex Razor spotter for star gazing, was able to at least see the lines in Jupiter and a very clear view of Saturn w/ rings last night. I want to eventually get at least an 8" with tracking telescope, that's far out in the budgeting list for now though.

Her setup is a Nikon D5200. Her lenses are the DX 18-50 zoom, the DX 50-300 zoom, as well as an FX 105. The rest of the numbers and F-Stops and whatnot I can't remember at all, at the moment. So I couldn't tell you if the setup could do what we want it to do in the first place. I won't deny though, that with all the bells and whistles and thingamajig's that are on this thing.... that it SHOULD. But I'm not a camera-ologist.

 

[Redmanss]

A wide angle prime lens with a low F-stop would work best for it. Even a budget lens should shoot great pics on a tripod and long run length on that sensor.

 

[Snipe260]

Good pics! Thanks for posting!

 

[Redmanss]

Her setup is a Nikon D5200. Her lenses are the DX 18-50 zoom, the DX 50-300 zoom, as well as an FX 105. The rest of the numbers and F-Stops and whatnot I can't remember at all, at the moment. So I couldn't tell you if the setup could do what we want it to do in the first place. I won't deny though, that with all the bells and whistles and thingamajig's that are on this thing.... that it SHOULD. But I'm not a camera-ologist.

Here's a quick start guide to it, including some samples with kit lenses: https://www.lonelyspeck.com/how-to-make-an-amazing-photo-of-the-milky-way-galaxy/

If that FX 105 is the $2200 lens that comes up in my quick google search of it, then damn, shoot with that the first chance you get.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Redman, thanks for the link, and we'll be giving it a try. As to the FX 105, ours is the F2.8, not that F1.4 that you referenced. But I'm not complaining. For taking pictures of small/close-up, it is phenomenal.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Wow. Things have sure looked up since I was 14, up on the roof with a Gilbert 3" reflector and Mark I eyeball...

Was sketching the Galilean Moons five nights in a row for an extra credit summer school program.

Nice gear, nice results.

Greg