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.

Last nights shoot was an awesome night, weather was great. Lots of meteors, nice moon and a bright Milky Way.
Sony A7R, ISO 4000 exposure 20 seconds Opteka 6.5mm Fish-eye lens f3.5

Xavier M. Jubier has put together an awesome Eclipse 2017 interactive map. If you are in the US mainland and in the path check his map out to find a good spot to watch a once in a lifetime event.

Weather in the South East US and Astrophotography Part 1

Weather and Light Pollution
The weather in the South East US can be unpredictable or in the mid to later Summer stagnant. The heat and humidity this time of year is almost unbearable and when it comes to Astrophotography  almost impossible.

The photo above was taken in mid July on a normal hot and humid summer night in North Georgia. Notice the amount of light pollution, this is due to low level moisture in the atmosphere. Also this is a moonless night so the amount of L.P. should be lower.... WRONG!! The lights of Chatsworth Ga are to the right and lighting up the sky and the same with the lights from the Metro Atlanta area on the right of the photo.  I start planning a few days out when I shoot the Milky Way. I look for cold fronts in and around the time of a new Moon. Cold fronts will in most cases clear the air and drop the moisture content of the air. The most constant time to shoot the Milky Way is late August through November due to the constant and sometimes daily cold fronts that sweep through the southern US.

 The photo above was taken in late June. Wait.... I said  "September to November" before. Sometimes the rules don't always apply. This was takes after a cold front had made its way south which is rare in the Summer months in Northern Georgia. I Started looking a the weather a week or so out to try and get a feel of what was going to happen. I know weather predictions are more than likely wrong but as a Meteorologist dose I adjust my timing and positions.  This photo was shot closer to light polluted areas than the first. the only difference is the low level moisture was below 40%. Even though 40% isn't New Mexico dry its still not bad.

     OK we have disgust humidity and the role it plays in Nightscapes and Astrophotography. Now Ii will talk about "Dew Point". Dew point is the point at which the lower level atmosphere can maintain water vapor. The dew point will always be higher than the current air temp example today the temp is 88F and the dew point is 76F. What this means is if the air cooled closer to the 76F range humidity in the lower levels will rise. When the air temp drops close to the dew point, dew condensation will form. This is not a bad thing, it will help lower the humidity in the lower levels of the atmosphere. The photo above was taken in early July around 2am. Earlier that day the temp was 87F and humidity was 73% hot and sticky. What helped was the dew point dropped to 50% after a front had moved through. The air temp that night dropped to 61F and combined with the lower dew point  produced a heavy dew on the ground. The payoff was the humidity had dropped to a lower level clearing the air.

To be continued......

Can't wait till the moon get out of the Milky way and I can get out to do some late night shots. This shot was from June on Fort Mountain in Murray County Ga. I had my camera all dialed in the run a night lapse and then a lot of high thin clouds rolled in. this was one of the better shots from that night. I had my Sony A7r set for a high ISO of 6400 and a exposure of 20 seconds.

Trying out my slider rig

Thunder Moon 2017

I was excited to get out this weekend and photograph the Summer Thunder Moon. The thunder moon is the full moon in the month of July
According to the Farmers almanac it has to do with the numorus thunderstorms in the month. This photo was taken with a Sony A7r iso 200 and a 1/50 second exposure. I used a Canon 75-300 at f8. I also used a Hoya ND 4 graduated filter upside down so I could get a good exposure of the landscape without blowing out the Moon. Location was at Fort Mountain State Park in Murray county Georgia.

360 Thunderstorm