Perseid Meteor Shower 2017

 Where to View

 The Perseid Meteor Shower Is coming up on the nights of August 12/13 and I want to help people to get out and enjoy. One of the first things we need to know is a good location to view from.

 The photo above was taken at last years Creek View High school's star party located at the Eagles Beaks Park in Ball Ground Ga. This area is in a high light pollution as seen below.

 Even this close to a major city the stars can be seen relatively easy. this is just one site to keep in mind. Photo curtsy of Dark Site Finder check out there interactive map to find a viewing area that is good for you.  The areas in the yellow to darker green should be great as long as you stay away from well lit streets or neighborhoods. With that being said you will not see the 100 hourly rate as projected these areas will be in the 20-25 rate, which isn't a bad night. Below is another example of how dark skies can be in a metropolitan area.

Sky Radiant 

 The sky radiant is the constellation or area of the sky a certain shower or group of meteors enter the Earths atmosphere. The Perseid show is one of the easiest to view due to its radiant being above the horizon for much of the night. Below is a sky map of the northern sky curtsy of www.space.com.

 The Persied shower is one of the widest showers of the year. What is "wide"? Wide is the term to describe the comet trail of dust and debris. Comet Swift-Tuttle passed trough the area of space 133 years ago leaving a dense dusty trail. The trail is 1000's of mile wide  and when the Earth orbits the sun every year it passes through this area of space. The shower actually starts in the month of July and ends in August.

Photographing 

 First you will need a sturdy tripod, a camera of course, extra camera battery plus a large memory card 4gb is too small but will work for a short outing  and a head lamp or flashlight with a red LED light. Do not shine bright light it will reduce yor night vision and the average person needs 45 mins of darkness to recover their night vision

. I will set my camera in manual mode and with a wide fast lens and adjust my ISO to 1600 manually focus on the brightest star or a bright light miles away. I will aim the camera to the area of sky  the radiant is positioned. When that's all set and dialed in its time to work on the exposure. To do this I will adjust my lenses aperture to the widest it will go such as F2.8 / F3.5 or F4 if your lens cant go below F4 then catching faint meteors will be impossible. Once I have adjusted my Fstop/aperture and made sure my focus is dead on I will set my exposure, this I will adjust as the night goes on. I tend to start out at 15 seconds and work my way up to 30 seconds as the night gets darker. Having a wired or wireless intervalometer will greatly aid you in taking sharper images, but if that's not a option adjust the drive mode to 2 second timer or with some cameras like Canon and Sony they have a drive mode for a 5 second timer and will shoot 5 to 10 images with only on press of the button. The drive mode work around has its drawbacks mainly the 5 second timer. If you are new to shooting a meteor shower you will greatly realize  meteors will fall in between the click of the shutter so if possible use a intervalometer.

 Capturing a meteor in a image can be greatly increased with a camera that can be set to bulb mode and with the use of a intervalometer one can have an exposure of 1,2,3 even 4 mins. Setting the intervalometer I will set it to do an interval of 1 second. I want as many images as my card can handle. With a 1 second it reduces the lag between the user and the camera, the camera will takes the image, then it will process, then snap another image. This will maximize your picture to time ratio which is key. If  I had a 5 second span between photos that 5 seconds a meteor will pass by. Intervalometers are cheep and most camera can be used with one and some have them built in.

Enjoy 
  Get outside and enjoy the sky. Take a blanket lay down and watch as these visitors from outer space  light up the night sky. Take friends, and family show them the Night Sky

 Photos where taken during past Perseid showers by Scott Padgett (North Georgia Rambler)
Maps and star charts credit goes to the people at Space.com and Dark Site Finder.