
What camera...
...pray tell, did he use? And what aperture/ISO/shutter speed? The metadata is no help to me! I might have a go tonight if it stops raining...
We're very much obliged to reader Bill Pinnell who, despite our doomongering yesterday, was able to capture this splendid snap of a Perseid meteor at 4:33 am this morning in Worcester Park, Surrey (click for a bigger version): Perseid meteor captured by Bill Pinnell. All rights reserved Good effort. ® Bootnote Bill's …
I was also up at 3am to try and snap the meteor show. Sadly, my only capture was nowhere near Bill's standard so I'll just get my coat.
It was quite clear in London this morning though - just a shame the sky has a red tinge to it thanks to the light pollution.
Anything from a 20 to a 30 second exposure seemed to work - longer and you risk star tracks appearing.
Mine's the one with the pathetic meteor picture in the pocket :(
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Come on, he took a photo. With a camera. He was looking at the sky so it must have been a public place. And who goes out at 4:33AM - sounds suspicious to me. This guy has dodgy written all over him - who owns a camera these days?
Really, just arrest him so that the rest of us can live safer. If hes got nothing to hide, he shouldnt be taking photos.
I was about to post a similar 'can we have a full version with EXIF / more camera details' comment, then I realised: hang on, I'm a geek, this is the internet.
Presto manifesto: Bill has the file on flickr, along with the full metadata:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billius/3813200097/meta/
Badgers paws? Don't mind if I do!
For those that are interested, the photo is a crop of a full frame shot taken with Nikon D3 with 85mm f1.4 lens (at f1.4). 8 seconds exposure.
I purposefully took shots around Polaris to reduce the amount of star trails - I wasn't using a tracking mount - just normal photographic tripod.
I used the Nikon MC-36 wired remote to automatically take multiple shots.
There were some larger (and slower) trails which I have captured sections of trails in 5 consecutive shots but these don't show such good colours as they don't burn so hot as they are not going through atmosphere so quickly.
Planning on streaming it live from the top of a big hill tonight if you can't be bothered to look out of your window. This is, of course, subject to there being any 'Three' broadband coverage which is unlikely but hey, it's working out my back garden for now!!
http://perseids.camstreams.com
It was pissing down last night, and still is here in Oulu, Finland. 100% cloud cover, and the forecast is just as bad for tonight.
Lovely piccie, however.
I remember going to the Burton Dasset* hills near Gaydon, Warwickshire, UK and watching this 25+ years ago. Bloody spectacular, and negligible light pollution. Wonder if I'll ever see this again in my lifetime.
* We used to call them the "Dirty Bassets", 'cos we would've needed Tesco's XL condoms there for a bit of 'doggie-style' when the visitors had cleared off, but that's another story...
@dxmnkd316 Blimey I haven't ever looked into Iridium Flares so went to the Wikipedia images for a look and thought they look a lot like my photo. eek
Just visited Heavens Above though and put in my location - it looks like there was a satellite around 3:40am but it was ESE and lower elevation - so i <think> my shot is a meteor trail. But feel free to expose me as a fraud !
I got some pretty pictures of stars last night, but I was tucked up in bed at 4am this morning! Using a 300mm lens and 30 second exposure is enough time that all the stars are slightly elongated, I did learn that while playing with different bits of kit and settings. I was using a Nikon D60 with the supplied lens for most of my session.
Yep, full EXIF info at http://www.flickr.com/photos/billius/3813200097/meta/
Strangely, he posted it to Flickr *before* taking it, according to the page:
Taken on
August 12, 2009 at 3.33am BST
Posted to Flickr
August 11, 2009 at 5.47am BST
Wish my camera could do that. Damn, these Nikons are getting good! Mebbe it's Asimov's thiotimoline in use (you know, the stuff that dissolves *before* you add water)
Nope. Satellite flares have a fairly clear "on" and "off". Bill's pic fades in and out, indicating something entering the atmosphere, heating up, and burning out.
On the other hand, seeing as iridium is more common in space than here on earth, I s'pose it's possible that it was a sand-sized hunk of the element burning up ...
Too foggy here in Sonoma to see all but the brightest stars in the ~25 degree circle of the sky straight overhead. I stayed out for awhile around midnight, but gave it up as a waste of time.