Perseids Meteor Shower peaking on August 12th/13th 2011

Seanie M

Every year the Perseids Meteor Shower brings much anticipation as the year's best loved shower. This is probably because it lies during the summer months and one does not need heavy warm clothing to view them!

Maximum is on the night of August 12th/13th with maximum around 01:00hrs on the morning of the 13th. Many club's around the country host their own Perseids-related event this time of year, some of which you'll find on www.irishastronomy.org

The peak is on August 12th/13th this weekend, so you will see an increase up to this date and then a gradual decrease to 'normal' limits in the following 10 days. The Perseids are known for fireballs or 'bollides' every year, so despite the Full Moon on the night of maximum, I'd still keep an eye out.

Here is an info sheet I made on behalf of the Midlands Astronomy Club (MAC) you can dowload:

http://www.midlandsastronomy.com/Per...hower-2011.pdf


Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris.

amacachi

Have a good load of people up for hanging out this weekend for it, not looking like the weather is going to co-operate alas. Was with a couple of mates last year and it was brilliant here.

Plug

Which part of the sky should we be looking at?

Seanie M

Plug wrote: »

Which part of the sky should we be looking at?

Towards the south and east for maximum effect (greatest radiant) but in general the whole sky will exhibit them.

Seanie.

cocoshovel

Just had a look. Saw nothing in the South West area for about 10 mins. Then I looked to the South East and saw 3 in the space of 5 mins. They're coming in nice and steady, bigger and lasting longer than the usual milisecond ones. Great!
Also the moon in looking lovely where it is sitting at the moment.

Cú Giobach

Looks like a typical perseid forecast with a lovely low pressure to the NW feeding us a bit of "soft weather".

tricky D

Seanie M wrote: »

http://www.midlandsastronomy.com/Per...hower-2011.pdf

Link broken: http://www.tullamoreastronomy.com/Perseids-Meteor-Shower-2011.pdf is the same PDF, yes?

Another idea is to suggest some camera settings for long exposures in the doc.

Flukey

As so often happens with meteor showers, the weather is not co-operating. You are more likely to see rain showers than meteor showers this week. Hopefully we'll get a few good breaks in the sky and the waxing moon won't make it too bright to see the fainter ones.

Seanie M

tricky D wrote: »

Link broken: http://www.tullamoreastronomy.com/Perseids-Meteor-Shower-2011.pdf is the same PDF, yes?

Another idea is to suggest some camera settings for long exposures in the doc.

Aye, but I thought both midlandsastronomy and tullamoreastronomy links would work!

To capture meteors on camera, you need one that has either a programmable long duration shutter-open mode or manual shutter release system (Bulb mode).

'Old' 35mm SLR cameras have a manual release shutter button (the same button taking all photos) which has an internal thread to attach a shutter release cable. Often the cable is pressed when in Bulb (B) or Manual mode, releasing the shutter and fixing it into position to keep the shutter open. You can then leave the shutter open as long as you want. The only determining factor after this is the ISO rating of the film. ISO400 is good, ISO 800 is better (more sensitive to fainter light sources) and ISO1600 better again but with a grainier photo. You want the aperture (F-stop) open as much as possible. Try 30 second bursts which will get you lots of stars with almost no trailing but a greater chance of capturing a meteor occurs the longer the shutter is open. If star trails are not an issue (they can add to a photo, especially against foreground/landscape objects) then leave it as open as long as you want but probably no more than 30 to 40 minutes at ISO400 (and less at a higher ISO). After this, the film will become saturated with granulation and scattered light pollution and you won't get a nice photo.

Newer DSLR's have this shutter release mechanism built in to its programme and the use of a shutter release cable is optional to perform the operation (usually as a method to prevent camera shudder when handled directly). The principal is the same from manufacturer to manufacturer but you will still need to consult the user guide on how to change settings like duration time, aperture and ISO.

In general, I use ISO400 or 800, a short F-stop (the smaller the number, the more light gets in) for short exposures and a longer F-stop for much longer exposures to bring down the level of granulation.

Those with digital SLR's get to experiment and see the results first hand to choose the settings that are right for them. After that, it's just practice.

Seanie.
(Sorry for the long post!)

koole05

Hello Everybody,

I am intersted in viewing this meteor shower, this weekend - and my girlfriend just said that she never saw any before!
Could you recommend a nice place to go out for a sky watch in dublin area, or what kind of places should i look for?
thanks a million for any suggestions:)

Gerry

Iancar29

koole05 wrote: »

Hello Everybody,

I am intersted in viewing this meteor shower, this weekend - and my girlfriend just said that she never saw any before!
Could you recommend a nice place to go out for a sky watch in dublin area, or what kind of places should i look for?
thanks a million for any suggestions:)

Gerry

If ur on the south side some where up the mountains like tri rock or something... north dublin as i am... up near St. Margarets out passed the light is always good.

Just hope as we all are for clear skies!

toostrong

Phoenix park is usually a good spot i know Astronomy Ireland generally has a lot of their events there in the car park of the Cross.

Also can anyone tell me which direction I should look in order to find the plough? Amateur sorry!

thanks

mcmoustache

The plough goes around the sky so it won't be in any particular direction.

The best thing to do is look up about 45 degrees and rotate yourself. There's a pretty good chance that you'll see it as it is quite big and distinctive.

Iancar29

Anyone gonna go out 2nite to try see any?

Theres a chance of some clearance in the leinster region from about 10- 1am id say... not the best times i know but still ... ya never know !

toostrong

Thanks for the info!

I'm planning on heading to Wicklow mountains on Saturday although I know the forecast is rainy and clouds but sure its worth a shot!

Anyone know a good camping spot there to view the meteors?

Iancar29

toostrong wrote: »

Thanks for the info!

I'm planning on heading to Wicklow mountains on Saturday although I know the forecast is rainy and clouds but sure its worth a shot!

Anyone know a good camping spot there to view the meteors?

The forecast for Saturday NIGHT is actually ok ... scattered clouds... so heres to hoping!

any night from now through to tuesday if its clear ill try to go out..

Iancar29

Anyone have any clear skies 2nite?... slightly patchy here but not good enough to go out...

Trogdor

I'm down in South Kerry at the moment and it's been trying and failing to clear all evening, haven't had a clear night since last thursday but i actually saw a good few meteors that night so was happy enough. Think i'll give up for tonight and hope to catch a few clear spots between the showers tomorrow night.

Davaeo09

Hey folks!
Managed to see myself about 9 shooting stars over a 25 minutes period! I had all the blankets spread out on the trampoline. It was about half 12 maybe closer to 1, skies cleared up for a little while but never completely.

Does anyone know if the weather conditions tonight will be any better? Have some friends coming over it would be some thing different to do for a bit.

ScrubsfanChris

Its not looking good for me

http://www.accuweather.com/en-gb/ie/cork/cork/hourly.aspx

amacachi

Pissing rain on and off here all day. Brightened up a little in the last half hour but still no breaks in the cloud.

antodeco

Completely blue sky here in Dublin West. What direction would be best to be looking?

cocoshovel

Overcast

John mac

antodeco wrote: »

Completely blue sky here in Dublin West. What direction would be best to be looking?

east north east. Just below the 'W' cassiopeia .

cloudy with a few breaks here but the moon is too bright ..

DesertMoon

It was completely overcast in Wexford last night.:rolleyes: Will there be anything to see tonight - looking clear at the moment. Thanks!

Fowler87

Think Ive just after seen one of those meteors.. big bright orange ball in the sky?? Only caught it by chance looking out the window... any chance there will be more as the skies are fairly clear here in Mayo?

Iancar29

Things are looking good for tonight! ...

I know the peak has passed but we would still see some!

FIngers crossed!

Pinklady11

Just seen 2 in the last 10 minutes. Fantastic!

Trogdor

Went out for about an hour earlier and saw 9 or 10. Had the camera out and was experimenting with timelapse really but caught one:

Might add in the link for the short timelapse video when it's rendered.

EDIT:
http://vimeo.com/27701674
Added just a very short timelapse for anyone that's interested.

Calibos

Lay on my back on a poof in the back yard for nearly two hours. I can really only see around 60º around the zenith due to surrounding buildings. Cassiopeia to Cygnus.

I saw...............One!!

Twas a doozy though. Bright, Thick, Slow, about 20 degrees long and a lovely after glowing smokey tail

MiamTea

Hey, I'm just wonderin is there any particular good time of the night in the coming days that would be best for watching for meteors or is it really just random? And will they be around much longer?

I only saw one tonight it was completely amazing and I wana see more!

Oh, one other thing, while I was watching tonight I saw loads of tiny sort of star-sized, slow moving ... things in the sky, anyone know if they're the meteors as well or got something to do with them? Just curious

Columbia

MiamTea wrote: »

Oh, one other thing, while I was watching tonight I saw loads of tiny sort of star-sized, slow moving ... things in the sky, anyone know if they're the meteors as well or got something to do with them? Just curious

Satelites

Only just now noticed the clear skies, going to go a bit out of town and hope I can see a couple meteors.

KazDub

As photographed by Ron Garan, currently stationed on the ISS. Nice view!!



http://www.space.com/12633-perseid-meteor-shower-space-photo.html