Perseid meteor shower is coming, supposed to be very good this year

http://www.sciencealer​t.com …e-twice-as-good-this-year

I'm in Philadelphia, Pa and really new to photography. I was wondering is there any chance of me trying to do astrophotography in a heavy light polluted metropolis as Philly? Would anyone be able to describe ideal conditions for astrophotography?

Votriminh wrote in post #18088892
............... Would anyone be able to describe ideal conditions for astrophotography?

not in a heavy light polluted metropolis as Philly .... the sun moon and planets, yes
the milky way and deep space objects extremely difficult to get good results

I live in the inner west suburbs of Sydney, Australia. I cannot see the milky way, can see one or two of the very bright
deep space objects ... several of the bright globular clusters

I travel an hour from home to get out of a significant portion of the city lights. It is a worthwhile effort
How far ( distance / time) would you have to travel to get away from most of the sky glow ?


You have given no indication of what gear you have available ??
this will also dictate what sort of astrophotography you will be able to do


cheers
Dave

Meteor showers are named for the constellation in which they "appear" to originate. Technically they are a dust trail from a comet that passed through that area of space (in the case of the Perseids ... is comet Swift-Tuttle) and left the dust in orbit around the Sun. The Earth is basically colliding with that dust trail.

This means that all the dust hitting our atmosphere will appear to be coming from the same general direction. That apparent point of origin is called the "radiant".

The "radiant" for the dust trail of comet Swift-Tuttle "appears" to be coming from the direction of the constellation "Perseus" -- hence the meteor shower is named the "Perseid" meteor shower.

From Philadelphia, the radiant point is technically in the circumpolar region of the sky -- this means it never appears to set below the horizon... it's up all day and all night.

When it finally gets dark enough (say around... 9:45 or 10pm) the radiant point will be about 15º above your local horizon in the direction facing North by Northeast.

THIS MEANS... that you want to find a place out of the city (perhaps a public park) in which there are no towns to the NNE.

You can search for a spot using one of the dark-sky finder / light pollution maps. Here's one: http://darksitefinder.​com/maps/world.html

The next challenge is that the meteors are mostly unpredictable. The only thing about them that "is" predictable is the night in which we will be passing through the heaviest part of the dust trail (highest number of meteors per hour) and the "general" direction in which they appear to originate (the radiant point).

If you use a very wide angle lens and point it toward the direction of the radiant point in the sky, then set your camera to take "continuous" shots, set a 30 second exposure time, and use a remote shutter-release with a "lock" button on it, then you can lock the shutter and just let it take a series of 30 second shots and hopefully catch several of them streaking across the sky.

And then there's the weather...

You do need a "clear" view of the sky. The "peak" is expected to be early Friday morning (e.g. thursday night and just stay out as late as you can). But the weather looks to be a bit spotty on in our part of the country later this week. Check the cloud cover models.

The window of opportunity to catch Perseids is very wide... technically they are hitting the planet right now (and have been for the past couple of weeks). You could spot them a few weeks before and after the peak... just not as many as on the night of the peak (the closer to the date of the peak, the better).

TCampbell wrote in post #18090636
If you use a very wide angle lens and point it toward the direction of the radiant point in the sky, then set your camera to take "continuous" shots, set a 30 second exposure time, and use a remote shutter-release with a "lock" button on it, then you can lock the shutter and just let it take a series of 30 second shots and hopefully catch several of them streaking across the sky.

As a starting point, would ISO 800, f/2.8 be about right?

PhotosGuy wrote in post #18090653
As a starting point, would ISO 800, f/2.8 be about right?

Yes - that's a good starting point. If you look for advice, you'll find a huge range of ISO exposure suggestions... anywhere from 800, to 1600... I've even seen articles suggesting ISO 6400.

If you are in heavily light polluted skies then the amount of sky-glow can overwhelm the image and you'll end up with mud. You want dark skies -- which means traveling away from an urban or suburban location.

Check to see if any parks are hosting Perseid viewing events. Here in Michigan, the State parks host a special Perseid viewing event, but the main advantage is that normally the parks would close at a normal time and for this event they stay open late. I'm a member of an astronomy club that has permits to allow members to use specific parks and observing sites "after hours" when those locations would normally be closed to the public.

But photographing meteor showers is a bit like photographing fireworks. The streak of light is bright and doesn't require a tremendously high exposure to show up... what you want is a long exposure time to increase the odds that a meteor will go streaking through your frame while the shutter is open.

You'll find you have quite a bit of latitude in exposure adjustment on the night sky and it can require quite a bit of dynamic range boost to reveal details.

If you have a remote shutter release that can "lock" the shutter button in continuous shooting mode, then you can set the camera to shoot 30 second exposures, but the camera into the appropriate mode (the same mode you would use to rapid-fire frames of action photography for sports... except you're using a 30 second exposure instead of a fast exposure). Just lock the shutter down and let it capture shots for a while (this will eat through batteries faster than normal photography so make sure you have fully charged batteries.)

I might add also the higher you get in Latitude the less LP you have . Don't shoot over any light source such as street lights , ball parks or parkinglots . As mentioned if you can the farther away from town you get the better your chances of a better image . Oh also if your shooting after sunset , don't point toward the horizon where the sunset is . You will get LP for sure !

Celestron wrote in post #18090761
You will get LP for sure !

Liquid Petroleum?

Livid People?

Latin Percussion?

oh, light pollution!

what does high latitudes have to do with light pollution?

I'm gonna' give it a shot. I think I can get far enough away from city lights (St. Augustine doesn't really have much) to make it, maybe, worth my while...

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18090876
Liquid Petroleum?

Livid People?

Latin Percussion?

oh, light pollution!

what does high latitudes have to do with light pollution?

Makes people like you ask stupid questions... :P

Celestron wrote in post #18090957
Makes people like you ask stupid questions... :P

that doesn't make sense, even as a put down.

i had to go back and read between the lines but i guess you are not talking about geographical latitudes.

He has Michigan as location, what do you see at a higher latitude above Michigan in this image ?

www.bing.com/images/se​arch?q=satellite+image​+of+usa+at+night&view=​detailv2&&id=42E8B898C​C3B99D10E0622CAD8F7D6B​ADD3E8194&selectedInde​x=4&ccid=7u%2fPdkVU&si​mid=608020705673937824​&thid=OIP.Meeefcf76455​4aedd21e55a13f813a30eo​0&ajaxhist=0 http://www.bing.com …3a30eo0&ajaxhis​t=0_(Share from CM Browser)

Celestron wrote in post #18091021
He has Michigan as location, what do you see at a higher latitude above Michigan in this image ?

www.bing.com/images/se​arch?q=satellite+image​+of+usa+at+night&view=​detailv2&&id=42E8B898C​C3B99D10E0622CAD8F7D6B​ADD3E8194&selectedInde​x=4&ccid=7u%2fPdkVU&si​mid=608020705673937824​&thid=OIP.Meeefcf76455​4aedd21e55a13f813a30eo​0&ajaxhist=0 http://www.bing.com …3a30eo0&ajaxhis​t=0_(Share from CM Browser)

is it really so impossible to just give a straight answer?

so i guess, latitude has squat to do with what you are saying, it's just finding a less populated area?


edit: plus how the hell was anyone supposed to know you were talking specifically to people in michigan? pfft.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18090876
Liquid Petroleum?

Livid People?

Latin Percussion?

oh, light pollution!

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18091030
is it really so impossible to just give a straight answer?

You need to re-read your own replies ....

We've got a break and clear skies predicted here in SE Michigan, so I'm going to bed and thden up around 11:30pm local time